Bestial
by rambling procrastinator
Summary: When a ninja has "matured," their scent changes. Only some sense the change, but of those who can, one will claim the matured ninja as their mate. However, sometimes more than one will try to make a claim. Sakura-centric. Pairings TBD.
1. The Scent of a Woman

Summary: 'Bestiality?' she asked, confused. 'All of our powers have consequences. Can you in all honesty say you did not suspect this one?' Everything has a price.

AN: So here we are, chapter one of a story that I have started and will (hopefully) finish in under 30 chapters. Feedback in various forms is welcome. This will be in first-person from Sakura's POV, and will feature various heterosexual pairings. Sorry to disappoint yaoi readers!

**On the spelling of "bestial:" It is spelled correctly, as is "bestiality" and "bestially." Although they are derived from the word "beast," they are not spelled "beastial" or "beastiality." Double-check with a dictionary or word-processing spellchecker if you don't believe me. Blame it on the quirks of the English language. **

**Chapter One **

I woke up, opened my eyes, and was promptly blinded by the sun that had snuck in through the crack in my curtains.

"Uuuurrrggghhh," I moaned in pain, curling up and pulling the blanket over my head. This was obviously a sign from above that it was not time to get up—look at what I got just for opening my eyes! I blissfully slipped into the cool darkness of sleep again . . .

"WAKE UP FOREHEAD GIRL! YOU CAN'T JUST SLEEP THE DAY AWAY! BESIDES DIDN'T YOU HAVE A MEETING TODAY? GET UP GET UP GET UP!" my delightful roommate yelled. I'm sure you can already tell from the term of endearment who it was.

I took a deep breath. "I _WAS_ UP INO-PIG! MAYBE IF YOU OPENED YOUR EYES INSTEAD OF YOUR MOUTH ONCE IN A WHILE YOU WOULD HAVE NOTICED!"

Some things never change.

_**mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

My "meeting" was really nothing more than a training session. Even though I had (finally) made jounin (although, to tell the truth, most of us struggled with the exception of genii like Neji and Shikamaru), it doesn't pay to let your combat skills get rusty. Occasionally I would train by myself, running through various katas and routines. Other times I would fight one-on-one with someone. Most of the time I fought in a team against another team. We would make up mission objectives like Kakashi used to do for us—like, "get the bell or no lunch." Rock Lee was a big fan of the incentives, although his ran more along the more extreme lines of "get the bell or run 10,000 laps around Konoha."

Today I was training with Naruto and Neji against Shino, Kiba, and Kakashi. I don't mind being the only girl, although there usually is at least one other—it's not like kunoichi are that scarce. However, Kurenai and Hinata were training new groups of genins. Ino had a mission today that would take her away from town for at least a couple of weeks. Shizune was doing something for Tsunade. That basically exhausts the number of women in our circle. A surprising number of kunoichi are in ANBU. If you looked at the number of ninjas who are only jounins, the ratio of men to women is about 3 to 1. However, if you include everyone in ANBU as well, the ratio is somewhere between 1.5 and 2 men for every woman. In ANBU the ratio is nearly one to one. We women are quite good at being sneaky.

At any rate, I had decided that since I had both Neji _and _Naruto on my team, I was in for a sure win, so I decided to let them do their thing. Alright, the truth was, I was still tired and I was looking to catch forty winks in a discreet and relatively hidden location. The "objective" for this "mission" was to capture a member of the other team and hold them hostage until sunset. Team NNS (Naruto, Neji, and Sakura) decided to split up but to stay relatively close. I opted to stay at our "base" location—where Neji and Naruto would bring our hostage. This is on the same level as glorified guard duty over a patch of ground. I know, I'm just so generous and helpful, right?

If I hadn't been so tired, maybe I would have re-thought the situation out a bit better. I mean, really now. It's hard enough to even get _near_ Neji, let alone touch him—especially since he can conveniently see everything around him for miles. And Naruto? He has so much chakra and can create so many clones that it creates a big headache even trying to think about how to capture him—he's just that powerful. So, unfortunately, I am the weak link—although I am by no means weak. I have quite a few nasty genjutsu and medical ninjutsu tricks up my sleeve. Not to mention I have incredible strength. But in terms of accessibility, it is quite easy to capture me—especially if I'm sleeping on a wide branch overlooking our base camp. Which, as I'm sure you can tell, is precisely what happened.

I was enjoying my nap in the nice, cool shade when something—a fly, I supposed—landed on my nose. I sleepily swatted it and rested my hand on my forehead. But the damn fly bothered me again. I repeated my gestures, still keeping my eyes closed. The fly tickled my cheek, and then my nose again. I opened my eyes and sat up—only to end up nose-to-nose with Kakashi, who had been tickling me with a leaf.

There was a second where I just froze. My mind blanked, and I'm fairly certain my mouth had dropped open. I was just that shocked, and that off-guard. Bad Sakura! Then I rolled off the branch, swearing under my breath. Or, at least, I intended to roll off the branch, except Kakashi grabbed my wrist—I will never cease to be amazed by his speed—and pulled me back up.

"Really, Sakura," he said, with his visible eye scrunched up—a clear sign that he was grinning at me, "I could have sworn that I taught you better than that. I would expect Naruto to fall asleep, but you?"

I couldn't resist the childish urge to stick my tongue out at him. Really, I tried very hard—okay, you're right, I didn't try at all, and Inner Sakura and I enjoyed every second of it. So there. Nyeh.

Kakashi laughed again, and I used the distraction to stab him with the kunai that I had slipped into my hand while sticking my tongue out at him—see, everything has its use! Unfortunately for me, Kakashi is much speedier than me even at my most awake, so I ended up in a hold with my kunai grazing my neck. What made it even more shameful was the fact that it was _my_ hand holding the kunai. Kakashi was gripping my wrist. Eh, well, nothing ventured, nothing gain.

"You're getting sloppy," he murmured.

"We both know that at this particular moment I have absolutely no chance in hell against you—but I couldn't just roll over and let you get me that easily."

"True," he said as something cold and metallic tightened around my wrist.

Handcuffs? Kinky. But I'm not surprised. This is what happens when you read erotica for years and years: you start bringing naughty toys with you everywhere because you've rotted your brain. That, and you can't have regular sex—you have to spice it up. I contemplated voicing this opinion to Kakashi, but decided that as he had the upper hand at the moment, I probably shouldn't push my luck. Who knew what other kinky sex toys he had in his pockets? Really though—a genin knows how to get themselves out of ropes in any situation. Standard equipment for a capture includes handcuffs and ankle shackles with chains coated in a layer of black rubber—to minimize noise and light reflection. The exposed metal is black as well. But it really makes a statement about my impression of him that when I felt the handcuffs the first thing I thought of was his sex life.

Without much ceremony, Kakashi cuffed my hands behind my back, turned me around, and flung me over his shoulder. Not that I'm complaining. He doesn't have bony shoulders, and . . . well . . . let's just say I can't complain about the view. Now, I know what you're saying—Sakura, he's 14 years older than you! But the man is a ninja, and he's still in his prime. And his body has just gotten better and better with age. It's common knowledge (and popular opinion) that Kakashi is one of the sexiest ninjas in Konoha. I can hear what you're thinking! Gasp Sakura, but what about Sasuke! Well, it's true, I was fixated on Sasuke when I was 12. But after someone is gone and completely cut off from you for the better part of 3 years, then you rescue them and they ignore you for the next two, and your hormones are developing and raging and rampaging and whatnot, you can't help but notice other people—even if it's in passing, such as when you walk into your sometimes-sensei and notice, "My, Kakashi-sensei, what firm and surprisingly defined abdominals and pectorals under that rather loose vest you have." (The correct response would have been, "The better to look all hot, sexy, and to be mysterious with, my dear," but luckily, I managed to keep my big mouth—read: Inner Sakura—shut on that one.)

But I've gotten sidetracked again. Right, the view—and by "the view" I mean his rather nice ass—looked very firm. It's a good thing my hands were behind my back because it was just too tempting to grab it. Inner Sakura was practically foaming at the mouth—wait, scratch that, she _was_ foaming at the mouth. _:Aw, come on—just one little squeeze? Please? GODDAMMIT WOULD IT KILL YA TO JUST BITE INTO THE DAMN THING! OOOO IT'S SO FREAKIN' TIGHT :_

We arrived at their "camp" fairly quickly. As Kakashi bent down-- _:OH YEAH THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT BABY!::_ --and let me off his shoulder, Kiba jumped down in front of us. He looked me up and down and raised an eyebrow as he grinned at me.

"Didn't put up much of a fight did ya?" Kiba said. I blanched. I really, really, really did not want Kiba to hear about how I had been watching the inside of my eyelids. Aha! I had it! The excuse that works in every situation.

"Mumble mumble mumble woman mumble mumble pain mumble mumble cramps mumble." I bent my head over and groaned a bit to look convincing, forgetting who I was dealing with.

Kiba closed the distance between us and inhaled deeply. He promptly smirked and opened his mouth, but then froze. He closed his eyes and leaned in closely and inhaled again, keeping his mouth open. I knew this because he exhaled warm, moist breath against my neck. Of course, I was thoroughly confused, especially when Akamaru came over and sniffed at my knee.

"Whoa, hang on a second! What do I look like to you—the canine version of catnip? Back off!" I took a step backwards and bumped into Kakashi, who placed his hands on my shoulders to steady me. Kiba opened his eyes and shook his head as if to clear it.

"Sit down there," he growled at me as he leapt back into the tree he had been hiding in before. Jeez! What was his problem? I discreetly turned my head towards my shoulder and sniffed. Nope, I smelled fine to me. My clothes were clean; I brushed my teeth and showered this morning. What was Kiba's problem? I know he has a sensitive sense of smell, but really now. Maybe he was allergic to my new bath gel? Well, it's not like I had anything better to do, so I sat down, trying to get as comfortable as possible with my hands cuffed behind my back. Kakashi sat on the ground in front of me, leaning against a tree. He pulled out an orange book. I wonder if he actually reads it when he pulls it out or if it is just for the sake of appearances. Now—time to plan how to get out of here.

I wondered where Shino was. Hm…I guess he was out toying with Neji and Naruto. Shino definitely beat everyone hands down in terms of mysteriousness. We were never sure of what he could do until he was in action—and he guarded all of his best moves closely. I severely disapproved of the hood. The sunglasses, I supposed I could deal with—but the hood? Seriously now, it was just creepy. Then I got a wicked idea—or Inner Sakura did. What if I sliced off his hood? Yeah! That sounded brilliant! Of course, I wasn't concerned with strategy at the moment, because I was on a stroke of genius—I had formulated a sketchy plan for my escape.

Stretching and shifting a bit, I located Kiba, Akamaru, and Kakashi. Well, Kakashi was right in front of me so it wasn't too hard to locate him, but you know what I mean. They made a tiny mistake when they cuffed me—my hands were together. My hands flew into a series of symbols for an obscure genjutsu I had found while poking my nose in various scrolls. It created a static illusion of me. Since I had just shifted and stretched, it wouldn't be too out of the ordinary if I stayed still for a few minutes—we all had lots of training at staying still (well, except for Naruto, he wasn't really that good at it). Okay, genjutsu in place. I peeked through my lashes at Kakashi—the key to this genjutsu was that, upon casting, the caster could not move otherwise the illusion would be dispelled.

Now for the tricky part. I'd only attempted this a couple of times, but it got easier every time. Concentrating very, very hard, I thought back to my base camp area. I thought of a leaf that I had seen on the ground—it was bright green with a yellow tinge all around the edge. Once I had the leaf firmly implanted in my mind, once I knew intimately its location and orientation, it was just a matter of concentrating chakra—but slowly, slowly pouring it in so as not to attract too much notice. Then, once I had a sizable amount accumulated, I flooded it open and—snap! Kawarimi no Jutsu! I opened my eyes. I was back at the base camp. Hopefully there was an illusion of me with a leaf floating next to it. But I knew it wouldn't hold for long, especially with Kiba and Akamaru there as my scent would fade, leaving a scentless Sakura. It was only a question of which would fade away first—my scent or my illusion?

I was entering what I called "full kunoichi mode"—the adrenaline began to pump, I was more alert, poised for flight or attack as necessary. The handcuffs were easily dealt with using a senbon I had hidden between the metal plate and cloth on my hitai-ate. Getting the needle, however, involved more time than I would have liked, shaking it off my head and contorting myself so my hands could reach up to my neck to reach it. Anyway, that accomplished, I threw the handcuffs as far away from me as I could, in the opposite direction I intended to go. A quick scent-covering jutsu, and I was on my way. I really didn't feel like wasting a lot of chakra on this jutsu, it was just for a quick getaway. Besides, the long-distance blind Kawarimi left me slightly depleted in chakra reserves and strength. My goal was simple: to find Shino, distract him so that Neji and Naruto could take him down, then guard him while Naruto or Neji played around with Team KSK. It would probably be Naruto—his ability with the clones was perfect for this sort of thing.

Swiftly, silently I followed a faint chakra trail—something I had learned to sense while pursuing medical studies. I thought it might be Naruto's; he had so much chakra that the concept of it leaking out made sense. I wasn't really sure if Neji's Byakugan left a chakra signature. I thought I heard Naruto's voice when a large object suddenly dropped in my path and pushed me against a tree, bringing a shriek from my lips. I really need to work on my guard.

Kiba grinned fiercely at me. It was obvious that his blood was up—he was enjoying playing predator to my prey. "Thought you lost us didn't you?"

His hands were wrapped around my wrists, pinning them to the tree on either side of my head, and I knew I couldn't match his strength—his was enhanced as well. Damn my size! I lashed out with my legs, but he quickly immobilized me, using his body to press me into the tree. Then he inhaled sharply through his nose and buried his face in my neck.

"God, Sakura, what the hell is that smell?" His voice came out muffled.

"Hey!" That idiot had no right to insult me like that! "I'll have you know I showered this morning. With strawberry-scented shampoo and honey-scented gel, you ass!" Honey-scented bath gel that cost a small fortune, I might add.

"No, it's not that, I can smell that," he said, moving his nose up to my hair then back to my neck. "It smells like…woman. Fresh, fertile, untouched woman." I felt something hot and wet and shrieked.

"Did you just LICK ME! Get OFF!" I began struggling in earnest, slightly panicked now. Kiba drew back and looked at me. His eyes were glazed over but were beginning to look slightly possessed, slightly hungry. "And I have always been a woman, you idiot!" I couldn't believe he could tell that I was a virgin. Inner Sakura was apoplectic—and I was bright red with embarrassment.

"It's…different…this time," he gritted out. Then he leaned forward and kissed me. It certainly wasn't my first kiss, but it was probably the most forceful. I suppose I should have suspected that from an alpha male like Kiba. I was really too much in shock to do or notice anything except warm, surprisingly soft lips, and a swipe of his tongue on my lower lip before he was pulled off of me and I was faced with Naruto, complete with rapidly darkening whisker markings and growing fangs.

_:OH SHIT :_ I heard in the back of my mind, and I snorted. Yeah, that was the understatement of the year. Naruto flung Kiba into a tree, one hand fisted in his shirt.

"You…will…not…touch…her," he growled out. Lovely, a fight for dominance.

"Naruto, it's okay, calm down." He ignored me. Right then, time for more drastic measures. I grabbed his free arm, and, predictably, he whirled to face me, dropping Kiba and ready to strike at me. I admit, it wasn't the brainiest option, but it worked. He paused, and inhaled. Then he sniffed closer.

"You smell like him," he rumbled at me. His eyes were still wild, he still had fangs, and his whisker markings were still prominent. Hmm…not good. He pulled up my wrists, and sniffed them.

"You were caught—I smell the metal." Then he licked my wrists. Okay, this was officially creeping me out. I decided to send him into a deep sleep (an easy feat for a medic-nin, although for Naruto, it would require more chakra, but it wasn't a problem). I moved to bring my wrists together to form the seals, but he didn't let me.

"Naruto," I said in a low voice, "let me go." He ignored me. And began sniffing me like Kiba had. I could see Kiba over his shoulder, sitting on the ground and shaking his head. He must have hit it on the tree when Naruto threw him against it. A snarl from Naruto had me jerking my head back.

"I can smell him on your lips." Oh heavens, not—but he did. He kissed me, and it was glorious and beautiful and passionate. Having somewhat expected it, I was prepared, and when I felt his tongue gently demanding entrance, I opened my mouth, getting ready to bite it off. What, did you think I was that easy? I was furious! I was going to beat Naruto from here to Konoha and back. And then I was going to skin him and put it up on my wall with a sign that said, "Do not touch me. Or else." But at that moment Naruto suddenly slumped against me, bringing us both to the ground. I looked up at Neji.

"Smell me!" I demanded. The genius raised an eyebrow. "Dammit I'm serious!" I stood up and pointed to my neck. "Smell me here!" He complied. "Well?"

"You smell faintly of honey and strawberries, but mostly of the forest." Oh. Well then. Good to know I was safe from at least one of them.

Dammit. I wouldn't have minded if it was him. Inner Sakura wistfully sighed. I secretly agreed with her. Neji was gorgeous—in a purely masculine sense, of course.

"Might I ask why?" Oh, right, he probably missed the whole thing.

"Because you have matured." Kakashi was leaning against a tree. When the hell did he get there!

"Excuse me?" I said icily.

"You have…matured," he said. It was odd seeing Kakashi at a loss for words. "There's really no other way to put it." Then it occurred to me what he was talking about.

"But that happened years ago." And it had, when I was fourteen and on a mission. Talk about royally sucking. I was twenty now.

"Uh…well," I briefly wondered if it was someone pretending to be Kakashi. He put his arm behind his head and crinkled up his eye. "There's a difference between being physically mature and having everything in balance." I blinked at that.

"In balance?"

"When you are ready…to…" He shrugged. I turned to Neji.

"Are you following this at all?" Neji looked at me and activated his Byakugan, then looked me over.

"Yes." What the hell!

"Would you care to enlighten me?"

"He means that you have reached a balance, an inner harmony."

"Between what?"

"Your physical being and your mental being," Kakashi said. "Your chakra flow has reached an inner harmony with your physical being, with your…hormone levels. It's a bit deeper than that, and it's not the sort of thing that a medic-nin would notice."

This was true. Medic-nins really only saw people on an as-needed basis. We diagnose the problem and fix it to the best of our ability. True, some medic-nins saw people at various ages, but we don't keep records of chakra flow alteration or anything like that—especially not for girls in relation to their…menstrual cycle. Although…it _is_ true that during our monthly and shortly before it our chakra levels fluctuate. That's why all kunoichi are on birth control—so we can better regulate our chakra and keep the levels more stable. But, if we took our pills, we should have some sort of balance, right? Maybe Tsunade would know more about it.

"So my scent changes?" This was just too weird. But it made sense—a girl doesn't really stop growing everywhere until around eighteen or twenty-two, somewhere in there. The scent change would happen at the end. Damn, and I was really holding out for an extra two inches in height too.

"It signals your readiness—for a lover—a mate."

_**mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

What is going to happen with Kiba and Naruto? Where is Shino? Find out that and more about Sakura's "maturity" and why Kiba and Naruto can smell it in the next chapter!


	2. A Bodyguard is a Girl's Best Friend

AN: So, I'm on a roll here. Isn't it exciting? Thanks to those who took the time to review. Remember, reviews feed the author! We like them—even more than chocolate cake! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

**_Mmmmm_** scene change

_:blablabla:_ Inner Sakura

**Chapter Two**

A mate? Was the man serious? Had he hit his head? "Mate" sounded fairly primitive. Why would he word it like that? The thought that this was an elaborate prank crossed my mind. But it wasn't April. And Kakashi looked serious.

"You're being awfully forthcoming with information," I said suspiciously.

"You need to be prepared."

I looked at him, perplexed.

"For those who you will be most attractive to. They will fight over you like dogs fight over a bitch in heat." Well, I blinked, that was blunt—and, well, not to sound redundant, but it was primitive too—can we say hello caveman?

"So that would be Naruto and Kiba? Why wasn't Neji affected?"

"My powers don't closely interact with nature. They're not…as biological. My enhanced senses are sight and touch, but they are entirely chakra-based. I can't detect a change in your scent."

"Think of it as a question of bestiality," Kakashi broke in, a gleam entering his eye.

"Bestiality?" That sounded a little icky to my mind. And more with the caveman-ness!

"Really, Sakura," Kakashi scolded me. "Everything has a price. Our powers have consequences, whether it costs us strength or chakra or something else. Can you honestly say you did not suspect this one?"

I stared blindly in front of me, contemplating that bit of information. Primitive…bestiality…the cost—oh! The cost was their humanity, or a portion of it. They became more like the animals they interacted with. That's why Kiba always acted like an alpha male, like the head of a pack—why his senses were always sharp—he didn't need to use chakra to enhance them anymore—why he had fangs and claws at times. That's why Naruto took on more fox-like features when he got angry, and he became wild—the price for Kyuubi's power. I quickly began running through all the ninjas I knew, trying to remember whose powers dealt with animals. Shino had his kikai, and Kakashi—I swung to look at him. The gleam was still present. Kakashi had a keen sense of smell. And he summoned that pack of dogs. I dimly noticed in the back of my mind that the majority of shinobi I knew had canine-based powers.

"So…you too, then?" I said to Kakashi, who nodded. "But, you weren't affected like Kiba and Naruto."

He raised an eyebrow. "I've had years to perfect my self-control. Neither Kiba nor Naruto are in the habit of practicing any self-control in these matters." Too much information! I did _not_ want to hear about their sex lives!

"Yes, you'll notice that, although I have been standing here the entire time, I have also made no move to…mark…you." I gasped and turned around. Shino was leaning against a tree, no part of his face visible except for his cheekbones and nose. I really, really wanted to remove his hood. You have no idea.

"Mark me?"

Kakashi sighed. I didn't blame him. I was feeling especially dim today. It must be the lack of sleep. "You are the prize in a battle for dominance. The winner will claim you and mark you—as his mate."

Well, that just pissed me off. Typical males, never asking a woman what she wants. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

"And what if I don't want that person?" I felt a warm, hard body behind me, and warm lips caress my ear lobe. I drew in a shaky breath. A girl's hormones can only take so much.

"That's part of the battle," Shino murmured. "We get to…convince you."

It was apparent to me that I was going to need help to keep these four men off my trail. They could beat each other to kingdom come for all I cared. But first...I really wanted to know what Shino was hiding under his hood. With a fast chakra boost for speed and an even faster movement, I had his hood down, his jacket half unzipped, and I was getting ready to yank off his jacket as I finished unzipping it. I had pulled it off one shoulder when my limbs slowed and suddenly felt rather tired. Oh, that is so disgusting! A few of Shino's kikai had crawled onto my arms and were draining my chakra, slowing me down.

_:Get them off! GET THEM OFF! Grossgrossgrossgrossgrossgross::_

Shino took the opportunity to disarm me and put me in a hold that had me facing toward Kakashi and Neji, who were watching me with amusement. I held up my hands in a gesture of defeat.

"Well if he's going to be trying to get into my pants, I should be able to see the goods, don't you think?"

"If that's what you wanted, all you had to do was ask," Shino said with a smile in his voice.

I pouted. I had been so focused on trying to remove his jacket that I only had vague impressions of sculpted lips, a pointy chin, and thick dark hair. Drat. A few well-placed elbows to Shino's side and I was near Neji, edging closer to his side. He looked down at me, his lips quirking up at the corners on his normally expressionless face—wow, that was practically a grin in Neji-land.

"So…what do you charge for bodyguard duties?"

_**mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

Never fear! I am nowhere near finished with explaining the concept of maturity and how that relates to Kiba, Naruto, Shino, and Kakashi being able to sense it! Find out more as Sakura goes on a quest for information, dodges Kiba and Naruto, and runs into Shino! All in the next chapter—review, review, review!


	3. Bittersweet Chocolate Cravings

AN: Show me some love, for I bring you a long chapter! Yay. And action. Everyone likes a little bit of action, right? REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

_:blablabla:_ Inner Sakura

**_mmmmm_** scene break

**Chapter Three**

I glanced quickly around the street from the alley I was hiding in, then made a beeline for the flower shop. I slammed the door shut, put three different locking jutsus on it, and took a deep breath.

"INO, TELL ME YOU'RE HERE!" I hope she hadn't left for her mission yet.

"DO YOU THINK YOU COULD _NOT_ YELL IN MY EAR FOREHEAD GIRL!" That came directly in my face. Ouch.

"Oh, hey Ino, I didn't see you there." Heh heh. But I can't say that she didn't deserve it. I had to take all the back ways here from our apartment, using scent-covering jutsus the whole way. I was tired and panicked and cranky. Hiding from Kiba and Naruto will do that to you.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Clearly. Where's the fire?"

Hm…how to ask about this. "Have you matured yet?"

"WHAT! Oh! Yeah, I did. But I'm still unclaimed…sort of…"

"And you didn't tell me! Ino-pig!"

"We thought Kakashi would tell you, since he can sense it!"

"Well he did, but not until Kiba and Naruto started beating each other up! We? Who's we!"

"Oh…we…it's just me, Hinata, Tenten, and Kurenai. Kurenai told us."

"I was the _last_ _one_!" I really, really hated being last.

"No! No, Tenten and Hinata haven't matured yet. At least, I don't think they have. It's hard to tell with Hinata, she hides in the hospital and she's so elusive, you know?"

"How can you _sort of _be unclaimed?"

"Well…um…I'm unmarked. Yeah…he's waiting for something, I don't know what, oh would you look at the time, gotta run—mission you know! Bye Sakura!" In a breathless rush of words, Ino, that dumb blonde, did three unlocking jutsus as she spoke and ran out the door, successfully avoiding me.

"Wait dammit! Who is it!" Sigh. I didn't learn a damn thing. Oh, she is going to be in so much trouble when she gets back. I'm dying her hair blue in her sleep! I guess I'll go talk to Tenten or Hinata. Today was going to be a very long day. I poked my head out of the doorway and glanced around, then sped off to the training grounds that Tenten favors.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

Hm…no sign of Tenten here. I closed my eyes and tried to sense any chakra. I didn't really pick up anything that felt recent. Her favored grounds were peaceful and quiet except for the burbling brook that was off to my left. I lay back on the grass in a spot of sun and relaxed. This situation was just so tense. I was afraid they'd pounce on me. Well, I was more afraid of Kiba and Naruto. I really couldn't see Kakashi entering in the game. He probably thought I was too young. Thirty-four really does scream confirmed bachelor.

Honestly, though, I really wasn't interested in being with any of the four guys, attractive as they may be. It took me years to recover from Sasuke's cruel trampling of my love and his neglect. I'd just as soon not repeat the experience. I was glad that I never saw him, that they kept him away on missions—that he _wanted_ to be away on missions. He was colder and more emotionless than ever. I wondered what he was going to do about rebuilding his clan, but then pushed it out of my mind. It wasn't my concern, and I certainly didn't want the job. I wasn't broken and scarred, not really anymore. But now I was more cautious of who I chose to become entangled with.

I heard a footstep near my head, felt cooler, and opened my eyes. Shino looked down at me from behind dark glasses, blocking the sun. His jacket collar covered his mouth, and his hood covered his hair and forehead. I sighed.

"Why do you cover everything up?"

"Why do you wear short skirts? Every time I see you your uniform gets more revealing." Oh now that was a bit much!

"I don't reveal as much as Ino!"

"True, but you're not totally modest either."

I harrumphed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Stop towering over me and sit down." At least he complied with that. I'll be grateful for small favors. We sat in silence. My eyes slid close again.

"I cover up because it make undercover missions easier. Nobody really knows what I look like except that I have dark hair. My…talents…make me best suited for reconnaissance missions. Thus I have adapted my uniform to those ends."

"Assassination as well," I murmured. He had good offensive skills, that was certain, but it was obvious that the Aburame clan preferred to keep their abilities as secret as possible.

He paused. "Yes, I make a good assassin as well."

The warmth of the sun made me lethargic. So did the sound of the stream and the birds around us. Oh yeah, this was primo naptime. I flipped over onto my stomach and pillowed my head on my crossed arms. My long pink hair was on my back, soaking up the warmth of the sun. I was ready to purr in contentment. No wonder reptiles like to sun themselves. Then I felt fingers gently stroking through my hair. Perfect. I hummed in appreciation, unwilling to face the reality of what was actually happening. As far as I was concerned, the sunlight had developed a physical body. It was really relaxing. I remembered seeing Shino's hands on other occasions—his hands were slim, but not feminine, with long fingers. His hands were good for delicate work—wiring bugs and other microscopic spy goodies. I slowly sank into the cool darkness of sleep with the sun as my blanket and Shino's fingers in my hair.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

I slowly surfaced from the murky depths of sleep, feeling warm and limpid. I opened my eyes and saw that the sun was setting. The afternoon had frittered away while I slept, and I was curled on my side against a gently moving rock, using it as a pillow. No, not a rock—the thought drifted through my groggy mind—Shino. I tensed and tried to sit up, but his arm around my waist held me down. I craned my neck up to look at his face. He had loosened his hood so that it was acting as a cushion between his head and the ground, and it didn't cover his head any longer. He had cut his hair—it was no longer long, thick and spiky. It was shorter, but still spiked out from his head in all directions. I think I liked it shorter. I wanted to touch it, to see if it was as stiff as it looked, to see if he put anything in it. I raised my hand to touch it, but he took hold of my wrist and brought my hand to his cheek. It was smooth, and pale from lack of exposure to the sun. Or maybe the Aburames were pale anyway, like the Hyuuga clan. I stroked his cheek with the back of my fingers, unwilling to break the silence or the delicate atmosphere around us. Maybe, with time, if I got to know him…I always did have a thing for tall, silent, and brooding. I pulled my hand away, but he caught it again, and gave my wrist a kiss, right on the thin and sensitive skin, and flicked it with his tongue. My breath caught—I hadn't realized exactly _how_ sensitive it was there. Smoothly, quickly he rolled onto his side and turned me onto my back, then leaned down and kissed me. His jacket was unzipped enough so that I saw his entire face—except for the ever-present sunglasses, of course.

He had marvelously sculpted lips, not too full, but not too thin. They were…perfect. He did have a pointed rather than a rounded or squared chin, but it worked with his defined cheekbones. He had the face of a model for one of those expensive designers that Ino and I drool over in our spare time.

His kiss was soft, gentle—completely unlike the ones I had received from Naruto and Kiba earlier today. Was it only today? It felt like it had been weeks—at least a month. It was like rich, dark, melted chocolate—unbelievably decadent and irresistible. I parted my mouth for him, wanting more, and his tongue slowly came into play with mine. It was slow, and unrushed. We had all the time in the world to just enjoy each other's mouth. It was hot, and I felt a wave of desire run up through my veins from my pelvis to my brain, focusing on my mouth. He nibbled on my lower lip and sucked it into his mouth. His free hand—the arm he wasn't leaning on—stroked hair back from my face and went down my neck, leaving goosebumps in its wake. But I knew we had to stop, and as I pulled back, so did he.

"I have to go home." He was silent, then he nodded and smoothly rose to his feet, then gave me a hand to pull me up.

"I'll walk you home," his baritone voice said. I had never noticed how deep it was before. It reminded me of his kiss, of the bittersweet chocolate I was now hungry for. Thank god for our chocolate stash in our apartment.

"That's not necessary, I can take care of myself." I don't mind some courtesies—men opening the door for me, letting me enter a room in front of them—but I am a kunoichi, I am more than capable of protecting myself on the walk home.

He inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Until tomorrow, then." He faded into the shadows and I stood staring at the stars for a bit, wishing for yesterday. Then I shook myself out of my funk and went home, feeling his chakra at my back the whole way, knowing he was following me. At least he was subtle about it—no matter how much I doubled back and turned around and hid, I was not able to find him.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

Will Sakura's resolve weaken? Will she decide to get involved with one of the guys after all? Where is Tenten? Will Sakura find out more about maturity the next chapter? Stay tuned for next week's chapter!

Please leave a review on your way out!


	4. Light in the Pool Below

AN: Please, please, PLEASE REVIEW! Even if you just write "good" or "ok"—reviews let me know that you are interested and that you want me ton continue (or that you want me to stop). I'm going to try to do regular updates; I'm aiming for once a week. I have already started chapter 5, so look for that around next Sunday, the 4th. If, for any reason, I think I will be delayed in getting out a chapter, check my bio or I'll stick an author's note before or after the chapter.

AN Recap: REVIEW! There is an awesome and handily placed button at the bottom of the chapter that will let you do so! Isn't that AMAZING!

Disclaimer: I forgot about this. I don't own anything related to Naruto. But should any of the characters ever go up for sale, I have dibs on Kakashi. And Neji. And Gaara. And Kiba. And Yondaime. I'm greedy.

_:blablabla:_ Inner Sakura

**_mmmm_** scene break/end of chapter

Soundtrack/written while listening to: Dance, Dance, by Fall Out Boy (hate this genre of music, but I love this song, go figure)

**Chapter Four**

It was early when I woke up the next morning—so early that it was still dark outside, and my eyes were too bleary to read the glowing numbers on my clock. After repeated futile attempts to go back to sleep I stumbled in the general direction of the kitchen to put the kettle on for tea. My tired face and rumpled hair greeted me in the bathroom mirror, and I amused myself with how refreshed I _didn't_ look by making faces as I brushed my teeth.

Two kettles of water and five cups of caffeinated tea later, I was feeling ready to take on the world—and three horny boys who thought they had some sort of pre-destined right to me. I was perfectly capable of fending them off—or hiding from them for the rest of my natural life. Let them beat each other into a bloody pulp; I was staying out of it. I briefly toyed with the idea of changing my uniform to a shirt that said, "Not interested," but discarded it as impractical.

Kiba and Naruto were pretty easy to figure out—and as long as they viewed each other as rivals it wouldn't be a problem. But I have to say, I thought Naruto had out-grown his crush on me. And I thought Kiba liked Hinata. The unknown factor was Shino. How do bugs act? Shino didn't seem like the stereotypical possessive, aggressive, territorial type that Kiba and Naruto were—which to my thinking must come at least partially from the animals they associate with. Shino was cunning—he found me alone yesterday when Kiba and Naruto were probably busy fighting. He didn't push me too much—slow and steady does the trick, or so they say. Shino was the one I had to watch out for.

I sighed as I pulled my hair into a pony tail and bent down to pull on my sandals. If nothing else, I would definitely get better at observation. I stood with my hand on the handle of my door, closed my eyes, and opened my mind, trying to feel out for anything that had a chakra signature. I didn't feel anything, but it was still early in the morning—the sun had barely thrown out its first pale fingers of light. I stretched and went out for a morning run.

Normally, I hate running. I see it as one of those necessary evils—for endurance, speed, retreat, it's essential as part of the ninja's workout routine. But today the world seemed more alive, bathed in pale light as the sun rose, and I felt rather positive—as opposed to the incredibly grumpy, snarling runner that I usually am. I rarely got up this early—again, one of the necessary evils. For a ninja, I'm pretty lazy in my off-duty life. I really think I'm the laziest ninja in Konoha except for Kakashi and Shikamaru (although Kakashi can afford to be lazy). Even Chouji trained—although he _did_ eat constantly while doing it. But I earned the right to be lazy, dammit. Ah, well.

But today, with a gentle, warm breeze blowing on my right side, and the light slowly growing, I was alone, and I felt a strangely joyful sort of feeling well up inside of me. On an impulse I changed my path and ran towards my favorite thinking spot in the forest—also a spot where I would work endlessly on meditation and concentration for less physical, more mental jutsus, or where I would sit and daydream, depending on how the mood struck. The joy kept bubbling inside me and I realized I was grinning fiercely. My cares and concerns had been left at home, along with my anxiety of yesterday. I was feeling so carefree that I almost felt airborne, and a wicked idea formed in my mind—wicked as in totally kickass. I ran, and eventually saw the overhang that I meditated on. I laughed as I ran off of the overhang, pushing off with my legs into a graceful swan dive as the sun peeked over the treetops. I was suspended in midair and time stopped—my arms outstretched, and I was flying. Then time resumed and I began to fall. It seemed to take forever for my body to flow from an arch into a straight position—and then I really began to fall in earnest, head first, hands stretched above my head to direct me. Then I slipped into the water with hardly any ripple, and my world turned dark and murky, but I felt like the light I had been running in had stayed with me, and I was now a creature of light in the dark water. If I had been glowing in the navy depths I would not have been surprised. My pink hair was all around me—my hair elastic had fallen out at some point. I moved around languidly, contorting my body in the water, watching how my hair moved as thought it had a life of its own. Then my need for air became pressing and I surfaced in one of the deeper areas of the pool, on the edge near some large rocks, some distance away from the waterfall whose path I had followed.

I got some air then immediately went back underwater, reluctant to leave my murky blue world, and swam towards some rocks. As I reached up, someone grabbed my wrist, and before I could find purchase on the slippery rocks to resist, they hauled me up. I was on my knees with my other hand stretched up to the other person's throat, holding a kunai close to their jugular. The person's other hand was wrapped around my kunai-holding wrist, stopping me from slitting their throat. I was a bit stunned with my speed, but then decided to do some mental back flips celebrating my awesomeness. Then I shook myself out of my stunned state and looked up at Kakashi.

"God DAMN it, Kakashi, don't sneak up on me like that! Didn't you learn anything in your time as a shinobi! You're lucky you're so damn fast, I would have killed you." Whoops, channeling Inner Sakura there.

He smiled—well, crinkled an eye. "Then it's fortunate that you're a medic-nin, so you could heal me as soon as you realized your mistake."

"Don't be so sure of yourself, I still might kill you for shaving off ten years of my life," I snapped as I used his hands to pull myself to my feet and re-sheathed my kunai. I dusted off my knees and looked up to find him looking me over, so I put my hands on my hips and waited for him to get to my face. When we made eye contact I raised an eyebrow. Just what did he think he was doing?

"That was a reckless move. If you had landed in the wrong spot, you could have been seriously injured," he said quietly, then walked over to a tree and sat down with his back to it. Well, now I felt a bit sheepish. I should have known he was checking me over for injuries. But it's not like it's the first time I've jumped off the cliff. It's the second. And really, "cliff" is such a misleading word—it implies great height. This overhang is really only 2 or 3 stories tall, compared to your standard building or house. Yeah. This is me, digging myself deeper. I despise being wrong.

I climbed over the rocks to the grassy bank area and began doing cool-down stretches. He was silent, and I ignored him for the most part. He was reading his book as he sat against the tree—his favorite position. Hmmm—speaking of the famous dirty book, I wonder what his favorite position is, which made me blush a bit. Then I had a mental image of Kakashi in bed and I felt my cheeks get really hot—I was now probably pinker than my hair. I was bent over so I stayed that way for a bit, hoping that the blood rushing to my head could explain the blush. I straightened then flopped down on the grass, finger-combing my hair. Kakashi continued reading his book, and I was still a little peeved at him for startling me (even if it might have been justified), so I sat in silence. And continued to sit in silence. What the hell was he doing here at this time anyway? Did he follow me? Was it coincidence? Did he have something to say? Why wouldn't he just say it and leave already! My right eyebrow twitched a bit, and I decided that was as good a time as any to meditate, so I closed my eyes, rearranged myself into a more comfortable sitting position, and went inside myself. It sounds cheesy, I know, but that's really the best way to describe it.

When you're inside yourself because you put yourself in a trance, it's sort of like being in a dream where you can control your movement. Until you mentally go outside of your body, though, everything is dark and empty—unless you imagine light and objects to fill the space. At first I was unnerved by the empty darkness, so I would make it look like the forest, or the hospital, or my room. But now I've gotten used to it. Anyway, the sort of trance I've been working on is one that medics use when they are short-handed in times of war or some other crisis situation. One medic remains in a trance, and sends their consciousness outside of their body and analyzes everyone's status in the area—chakra levels, injuries, sugar levels, degree of exhaustion, degree of hunger and malnutrition, etc. The medic-nin relays this information to the other medic-nins and they will treat the people. It's fairly efficient, because the tranced medic-nin can see the progress that is made with each patient, so when they are out of danger, they tell the non-tranced medic-nin to move on. It helps everyone to conserve chakra, because the non-tranced nin doesn't have to go into a trance, and the tranced nin doesn't have to heal. It's kind of similar to the Byakugan because you can see everyone's chakra flow, but you can't really determine what jutsu they're using unless you can see the symbols their hands are making. Also, in addition to their chakra flow, you can see their bodies and various organs and things like that, depending on how hard you're concentrating. However, unlike the Byakugan, you aren't using your physical eyes, you are using your mental eyes—in general your eyes are closed, or if they're open, you are not seeing out of them. And you can't do anything else when you're in a trance—obviously, otherwise it wouldn't be a trance and you wouldn't need to concentrate in order to do it.

I can do pretty much anything a medic-nin can do—need an antidote for a poison? Not a problem! Heal someone of five fatal wounds simultaneously? Easy! Chakra drain and physical exhaustion? I can do it in a snap! It's this stupid trance thing. Obviously, when you're in a trance, you're very vulnerable to physical attack—if there is anything that is chakra-powered, or is an offensive jutsu, you can see or sense it, and it IS possible to block it with your mind (your chakra), but it's incredibly difficult. But pure physical attacks—like if someone tosses a kunai at you? You're screwed. Any time I think I hear a noise or feel something, I leave my trance-state. The problem is that because you're not focusing on your body, you can be fatally injured but not realize it until it's too late, because your consciousness is not there to receive all the pain and danger messages from the brain.

At any rate, I was slowly pulling my mind inside my body, and diagnosing myself. Everything was good—blood sugar was good, I wasn't tired, chakra was high, I wasn't hungry or malnourished, I had a scrape on my knee but it wasn't bleeding—that was easily fixed with a miniscule amount of chakra applied towards increasing the rate of skin regeneration. Then I slowly began to spread my mind out—my record range was four feet, which is pretty small, but I go so slowly that it takes me at least half an hour to get to that point. I think my problem was that I was too thorough. I envisioned my mind as a circle, scanning the area for life forms. I got an immediate hit—there was a bug near my foot, moving towards me. And not just any bug—a chakra-containing insect. A kikai.

_:Shiiiiiinoooooooo:: _Inner Sakura ominously growled. No wonder the sneaky bastard found me yesterday! I felt a bit bad doing this, but I used a flick of chakra to zap the bug—but the bug just absorbed it. I gave myself a mental slap for stupidity, went back inside my body, and slammed my foot on it.

_:Yeah! Take that! Take your symbiotic relationship and shove it up your ass::_ An evil little voice inside me maliciously whispered that I hoped Shino felt that. They can fight over me if they want, but I will _not_ be spied on. Is respect for my privacy too much to ask? I glanced over my shoulder at Kakashi, but he seemed to be in his own world— _:Yeah, right, and I'm the tooth fairy::_ —although it looked like he might have been smiling, but it was difficult to tell with only his eye exposed. If he was, it was a very, very small smile.

I sighed and started over, smoothly entering and spreading out. Actually, it reminded me of my dive earlier—a mental image to use in the future. This time I didn't get any hits, and I had reached about three feet away from me. I had also completely lost track of time. I continued spreading out, meticulously looking for something to pretend to analyze. Then I found something—a foot. If I continued to spread out in that direction I got a leg and another foot. Had I reached Kakashi already? Woohoo, that was probably about 6 feet! I sobered myself and widened my range to include his entire body while maintaining my range in the opposite direction—sort of like a circle with a bump for Kakashi's body. I began to check him over, noticing he tensed as my chakra-containing mental hands brushed over him—but to outward appearances, he looked the same. Damn he was good. Physical signs were good, no superficial or internal injuries. Chemical levels were good. But there was a concentration of chakra where his eye was—well, not _his_ eye, the Sharingan eye. I frowned. That's not healthy! Especially since that's not a chakra point. But it was odd—I knew he could close his eye. Could it have something to do with the fact that he keeps it covered? But it would be a constant drain otherwise to have it always exposed. Hmmm…I moved closer to his eye until it filled my mental vision. His chakra flow looked normal except for the eye.

I thought for a bit, and examined both eyes. His natural eye had more minor chakra loops that went through the brain and merged with the main chakra flow. So I carefully dipped my mental fingers into the chakra gathered behind his implanted eye, and pulled it up, following the curve of his head, back, and merged it with the main flow at the neck. I watched it for a while, and it held, so I repeated the process. I repeated it until the flows for each eye were identical. I examined the physical eye as well—he could see out of it, it looked fine and appeared to be working as well as the other one. The chakra gathered there had definitely lessened in the time that I had fiddled with it, but for an extra measure, I made a loop that just looped back into itself, so that the chakra wouldn't gather, but would instead cycle through the eye area. I wonder if the Sharingan had burned the other loops away, the ones connecting it to the main flow, but that was something to test later. I eased myself out of Kakashi's chakra stream—no telepathic tricks here, I don't have any talents like that (maybe if Ino did this she could communicate mentally but she can damn well figure that out herself—I don't want her spying on my thoughts!)—and turned back towards my body, because I was tired, and it had taken a lot of energy (long-range healing tends to do that, it really is easier if you're touching the person—another reason why the trancing is usually a multi-medic-nin operation), when I felt Kakashi relax, then tense up suddenly.

I gave a mental yell of surprise and rushed into my body, which was a huge mistake because I knocked myself off balance and fell backward—not a terrible thing because I was sitting down, but painful nonetheless—and disorienting. I fumbled for a kunai and groaned as I opened my eyes—I was lying down, the world was spinning, and I had the worst migraine of my life.

"Why did you do that," I groaned, closing my eyes again. I tried opening them a crack, saw the light, whimpered, and curled up on my side, hiding my face with my arms.

"Do what?" His voice moved closer, but I didn't hear him move over the pounding in my head.

"Tense up. Did you hear something?"

"No."

I would have screamed at him but I really didn't have the energy to do it at the moment. I settled for angrily muttering what I would do to him when I felt better. I couldn't even concentrate enough to soothe the pain away—not that it would have mattered, since this was a magical backlash. I would have to wait for my chakra flow to get back to normal and then I could ease the physical pain. I felt nauseous too. It was a stupid mistake—the first thing that is stressed during the lessons about trances is that when entering and exiting a trance, you must do so _slowly_ and _carefully_. Carefully is more important than slowly. For someone who has a lot of experience, they can enter and exit in under a minute. But for those of use who are new to it, we need a few minutes. Spreading your mind out and gathering it back together doesn't matter as much, it's the actual point of entry and exiting for the body. It has something to do with the fact that when you spread out, you take chakra with you (so you can do your diagnoses, and, if you like, heal people), and the influx or loss of chakra all at once shocks your system. The mental bit doesn't really matter.

"I suppose I have you to thank for relieving the pain in my eye?"

"There was pain? You should have gone to the hospital." Pointless advice, I know. All ninjas hate going to the hospital. I was glad I was a medic-nin so I too could pretend I was tough. I made it a point of doing a quick look-over of all the ninjas I knew personally once a week, and I did a more thorough one when they came back from missions. It's stupidity like that that will lead to further, more serious problems.

"It was the chakra flow from your eye," I said. "It was messed up, some of the minor pathways were gone and it resulted in a build-up of chakra at your eye."

"Ah." He didn't sound particularly enlightened, though, so I assumed that this was an ongoing problem. I made a mental note to check on Kakashi's eye once a week. That was the first time I'd fully diagnosed him before. I'd healed his injuries before countless times, but he rarely got injured on his face, and his problem was usually chakra drain and exhaustion, so I'd give him enough chakra to get to an inn, and sit around while he slept for a week. The eye wasn't something that was incredibly noticeable, either—there is a tiny pool of chakra at both eyes, and I generally looked for head trauma instead, and ignored the eyes. I was actually rather jealous of Hinata at the moment—if I had the Byakugan I could easily track Kakashi's eye's progress—or its decline—as time went on. Bah.

All this thinking was making my head hurt. I heard a rustle, and Kakashi picked me up. I quickly hid my face in his neck, shielding my eyes from the light.

"Mmmf mm," I said into his neck.

"You're welcome," was all he said. He was silent the entire way to my apartment, his gait smooth and even, and I fell asleep with the smell of sandalwood in my nose and his muscular arms around me.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

Will we find out what Kakashi was doing there? Will we see Kiba and Naruto again? Is Shino pissed about the loss of his insect spy? Find out in the chapter with the much-awaited information about maturity! Who would have thought that Hinata was the ultimate source of information?

AN: See! Right below here! A REVIEW BUTTON!


	5. Hyuugas See All, and They Know It, Too

AN: So I'd really like to thank everyone who has been reviewing, it means so much to hear from you! Keep them coming! Oh, and for those who are wondering where exactly this fits in the series, I don't remember if I said it before and I'm too lazy to check, but this takes off around that two-year split, but we're in the future. The "Rookie 9" are 20 years old. Do the math for everyone else with that.

As always,

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I would make Kakashi, Neji, and Gaara my love slaves, and they wouldn't be in your anime/manga. Obviously, since you're still seeing them, I don't.

:blabla: Inner Sakura

**_mmmmmm_** scene break

Soundtrack for this chapter (i.e. written while listening to): Chanson d'ami, zazie

**Chapter Five**

It was past noon when I woke up—I could tell from the sunlight that was slanting in through my windows. Ugh. I felt like crap. But I was thirsty. I rolled over to get off the bed and saw a glass of water on the bedside table. I narrowed my eyes at it. _I_ didn't put it there. However, I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and I greedily drank from it and swallowed the painkillers that were next to it. I shakily stood up and stumbled to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. That completed, I was heading back towards my bed when I heard a very soft tapping on my door. I could only think of one person who would knock like that, and I was right.

"Oh, hey Hinata. Come on in." She darted inside and turned to face me.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but Kakashi stopped me on my lunch break and said you had chakra backlash, a-and that I should check on you—I mean, I wanted to see how you were too, and…" she trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders. "Oh! But you should be sitting down Sakura!" She firmly took me by the arm and steered me towards the couch. Hinata has lost some—but by now means all—of her shyness as she has aged, and now she's an odd mix of confidence and uncertainty. She's completely confident about anything related to medicine, but she becomes shy when she feels that she's the focus of attention—which is pretty much any time she talks to someone purely for conversation. Once she starts saying what is on her mind though, conversation usually flows smoothly. We got to be fairly close since we both started learning medical jutsus from Tsunade—Hinata began learning from Shizune, but when I was away all that time hunting down Orochimaru and Sasuke, she began to learn from Tsunade as well.

Hinata had activated her Byakugan, and was holding her hands near my head. I closed my eyes and concentrated so I could "see" what she was doing with my chakra. My chakra flow was looking pretty good, actually—well, aside from a large concentration of it in my head, which I felt Hinata smoothing out, and I helped the process by influencing my chakra to flow faster. In no time the pressure in my head eased as my chakra became evenly distributed in the correct flow patterns, and I opened my eyes with a sigh of relief. I excelled at chakra control, but when your chakra circulation system becomes messy, it's always nice to have a helping hand to tidy it up.

"Thanks, Hinata. You really didn't have to go out of your way to come over here." And it was true; I would have been fine after another few hours of sleep. However, I would hate to sound ungrateful, especially since she knew that I could heal myself too after I slept. She was probably afraid of offending my healing abilities, which are pretty damn amazing, if I do say so myself.

"O-oh. No. It's really no trouble at all, Sakura. I—I was glad I could help," she said as her voice became softer. Time for a new topic!

"Actually, I'm glad you came by. I've been wanting to ask you about something." Was it just me or did that sound vaguely creepy?

"Y-you did?"

"Have you heard about this whole maturity and balance thing?" Now I was starting to feel like a pervert—I definitely knew way too many of them. Obviously I needed to broaden my circle of friends.

"Oh! Yes, yes, I have. My father told me about it when he found out that I was on a team with Shino and Kiba. I'm not sure how he knew, though."

"You've known since we were genin! Why don't they tell us medic-nin about it!"

Hinata shrugged. "It really doesn't apply to everyone. What do you know about it?"

"Only that your…scent…changes because you've reached some sort of balance. But it doesn't make sense—if all kunoichi take birth control, shouldn't we all have balance?"

"It's more than that. It means that you've reached started to reach the peak of your abilities—that's why they usually call it maturing. Think of it like this—for most of us, our bodies mature faster than our ability to control and expand our powers. For others—genii—their powers mature faster than their bodies. They're the ones who become jounins when the rest of us have just graduated from the Academy." From anyone other than Hinata, that would have sounded bitter. But she was in "lecture mode"—you could totally tell she was an instructor!

"Eventually, everyone reaches a limit that they really can't go beyond—there are always special cases though. At some point as your power reaches a sort of plateau, it's apparently marked by a physical change in scent. The only ones who I know can smell it are the Inuzuka clan, the Aburame clan, Kakashi, and Naruto." Hinata fell silent.

"Gaara," I said.

"What," Hinata squeaked.

"I bet Gaara can smell it too," I said. "He has…an "animal" inside him as well." Talk about euphemisms.

"Oh, yes. You're probably right Sakura."

"So is there any other way of telling if someone has reached a balance? What about your Byakugan? Or if I go into a trance?"

"I can't see it with my Byakugan. From what I understand from Neji and my father, recognizing it is almost instinctive. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for, and I think that my use of it may not be refined enough. That and my Byakugan has never been as strong as Neji's," Hinata sighed unhappily. Wow, I couldn't believe she got the nerve to ask Neji about it.

"Maybe it's because you haven't reached your balance. You only just reached jounin status—I bet you will figure it out, and when you do, you can show me what to look for." I wasn't about to let other unsuspecting young girls run around not knowing about the predators lying in wait for them.

_:Yeah! We'll kick their asses! Girl power! Hell yeah:_

Hinata turned red. What did I say?

"Hinata?"

"W-well…um…" she pushed her index fingers together. "You're right, I haven't reached my peak yet." She was silent for a while and I waited, but I wasn't feeling terribly patient. "K-kiba comes around the hospital every day to...um…smell me and make sure…that I haven't. He…he always grumbles about how he has to make sure he can keep me away from Naruto." Hinata finished this on a whisper with a face that was competing with a tomato for color.

I stared at her. She refused to look at me. Then I started giggling, and she looked up at me.

"Mental image," I managed to get out as I started laughing my head off. Hinata looked startled, but then smiled a bit.

"He _does_ go a bit overboard, _especially_ when it comes to Naruto."

That sobered me up. "Hinata, do you still have a thing for Naruto?"

"Um…" Uh-oh. Not good. How to break it gently about Naruto and Kiba fighting over me without sounded completely self-absorbed? Boys weren't really a topic I discussed with Hinata, mostly because we were usually talking about something related to medicine, and also because I knew it was a topic that always made her sputter into silence from embarrassment.

"You…you misunderstand," she said, interrupting my train of thought. "Naruto…he…he was—is the person I admire most. He has tried so hard, been so optimistic, even when he was so alone when we were academy students. I—I used to like him like that…but…but…it was more hero worship than anything else. We are friends, and…that makes me happy. I didn't see him much for several years, and grew out of my girlish love, like you, Sakura—and now I still admire him…and I like him, but…we are only friends…and that is all we will ever be."

During those years he and I were chasing down the Akatsuki, and before _that_ we were chasing down Orochimaru and Sasuke. Or trying to concentrate on Orochimaru and Sasuke while running from the Akatsuki. Priorities, you know. Actually, it's a wonder Naruto and I even lived to make it to jounin status, we were gone on missions so much for those years. And the longer you're gone on a mission, especially for A-level and S-level, the more likely it is that you'll end up dead. It's simple fact, if you look at the statistics.

"I guess it's just not really that important to me now," Hinata mused. "Being a medic-nin and training genins is time consuming."

I totally agreed—of course, I was an active jounin, so I was on missions rather than training brats (I still am not a fan of children), and I had a bit more free time, but it wasn't all peaches and cream. I spent a lot of my free time at the hospital, and then I had to deal with stupid crap like the maturation of power and people not keeping me informed about it. Kakashi had a big kick in the butt coming his way from me.

"What about Tenten? Has she reached her peak?"

"I don't know." Hinata wrinkled her forehead. "I haven't seen her around lately."

"Hmm." My eyebrows snapped together. "That's odd. She wasn't where she usually trains yesterday either. Maybe she went on a mission." Tenten was in ANBU. We assumed she was on a mission if we didn't see her for a couple of days. Her missions usually didn't take very long—she was a fighter, not a spy.

"Shikamaru and Neji left today. I saw them this morning." Oh yeah, Hinata probably knew who everyone in ANBU was, or at least what they looked like, with the Byakugan. No wonder everyone wanted to unlock the secrets of the Hyuuga clan.

"Dammit, he was supposed to be my bodyguard," I muttered. I heard a muffled snort from Hinata and then some soft laughter. "I knew I should have told Tsunade yesterday."

She laughed louder. "Are there so many then? I thought…" she trailed off, and blushed.

"Kiba, Naruto, Shino." I said in a low voice. Her eyes widened, and she looked a little sad.

"I'm sorry, Hinata," I leaned over and looked her directly in her eerie eyes. It didn't really feel like eye contact since she had no easily visible pupil. "If I had known I would have avoided Naruto, or Kiba. Wait, or is it Shino? But I thought you didn't like Naruto like that! I really thought Naruto was over his crush on me, I mean it was so long ago," I started to panic. I felt so bad, but I had no control over it.

"No…no…well…no, I guess I really don't," Hinata said, sounding a little surprised. "I guess I'm just tired—of being last," she grimaced.

That made total sense. "Ah. I felt that way when I was on a team with Sasuke and Naruto…Well, if it's any consolation, I think that I'm really just another thing for Kiba and Naruto to compete over." Ever since Naruto and I came back and started training to be jounin, Kiba and Naruto had become more and more competitive. It was like Sasuke and Naruto all over again, except friendlier—unless they were competing.

"I'm sure that's not the case," Hinata said rather firmly. "But…be careful, Sakura."

"Oh, I know that Hinata," I stretched. "As far as I'm concerned, Kiba and Naruto can beat each other into the ground. And Shino…well…as long as I watch out for his little insect spies, I'll be alright. I'm really not interested in getting involved with a guy right now, you know."

She frowned. "You don't have a choice."

It was my turn to frown. "What do you mean? I have three men to choose from. Talk about options!"

"Not every mature ninja attracts those who can sense the change." Hinata was starting to become really flustered, and was looking at her hands, which were twisting in her lap.

A sense of dread started growing in my stomach. "Hinata?"

"It's a measure of your ability…and your compatibility…who you attract. Of how high your peak is. Just because they can sense the change doesn't mean they're instantly attracted to you." Well, that made sense. Otherwise nothing would get done because everyone would be chasing after each other all the time. Besides, if a weaker ninja was attracted to me, I'd just walk all over him—even Naruto can barely withstand my "love taps."

"But my compatibility with them—that's where the smell comes in."

"Yes," she said.

"So I'm basically sending out selective pheromones for ninjas who are as good as I am or better."

"Yes."

"I see." And I did. The picture was becoming all too clear. "And if I tried to put them off by getting involved with someone else, they'd just beat him up—especially Naruto. He'd probably kill him accidentally—well…maybe on purpose."

Hinata still looked troubled. "I…I don't think you understand…"

"No, no Hinata, I understand. I'll just have to go out of town on a journey…I mean, a long mission…something that lasts a year or two. Or maybe I could be like Jiraiya and become a hermit. Yeah!" I hopped to my feet and walked towards my door.

"Well, it was nice seeing you Hinata, and thank you so much for all of the information, but I have to go see someone about a journey—heh heh, I mean a mission." I pulled on my sandals and Hinata was quick to follow me and do the same, but she was still frowning.

I opened my door and nearly walked into Konohamaru, who had his arm raised to knock on my door.

"Ah, Sakura. The Hokage would like to see you at fifteen hundred hours." Then he disappeared. Heh, must have a lot of messages today. I glanced over my shoulder at the clock in the kitchen area. It read 2:45. He's damn lucky I was on my way there already, I growled to myself.

_:Kick his ass:_

"I've got to get going! Bye Hinata!"

_**mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

I walked into Tsunade's office and saw that Kakashi was there.

"Whoops, sorry, I'll just be—"

"Stay, Sakura. You have your details, Kakashi. I will see you in two weeks." He gave a small bow and salute to Tsunade before walking out. A small cloud of smoke marked his departure outside the office.

"So. I hear that you've got quite the following." Tsunade leaned back in her chair and propped her feet on her desk.

"How—never mind. I came to request a mission. Preferably one that's long," I grimaced.

"Yes, I have one for you. It's a retrieval mission, it shouldn't be too hard. Kakashi will have the details for you. I called you in because another member of your team will be Kiba. I thought you deserved fair warning."

"Why not Naruto!" I really wasn't on teams without Naruto very often. When he was away training, of course I was, but it wasn't the same. And really, I trained by myself under Tsunade and went on missions as needed. My days of training with a team had been put on hold until Naruto came back. There's a certain level of comfort—I know how he's going to move so we work well together, we get along (unless he's being an idiot and then I have to knock some sense into him), and he doesn't really need me to heal him very often so I can concentrate on the other ninja on our team—or ninjas.

"I had already sent Naruto on a mission before I received a notice from this client. But isn't he also a potential match?" Damn. Well, if Kiba gets too close I'll just punch him. I'll pretend he's like Naruto—harmless, loud, and playful.

"It's not a problem. You expect that it will take us two weeks then?"

"That is the estimated time."

"Very well. I will see you in two weeks." I saluted and left the building, then turned to Kakashi, who was standing against the wall, reading of course.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning. Nine hundred hours."

"Right, so I'll see you at twelve then," I shot back with a smirk. He raised his eyebrow but said nothing, just did a displacement jutsu and left. Yeah, I'd be there a nine hundred hours. Once Naruto and I decided that we'd be on "Kakashi time" and be three hours late for a mission departure time. He surprised us by poofing into our bedrooms and waking us up. I got him back for scaring the crap out of me though, because I punched him into my wall.

_**mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

I didn't feel very refreshed when I woke up—I had spent the rest of the day in the hospital, and ended up staying pretty late into the night because I wasn't tired. Then when I _did_ sleep, I had dreams I don't really remember, just flashes of people yelling, and hot breath on my cheek, and a hand in my hair. I showered (probably the last one I would have for at least a few days—it's not glamorous being a kunoichi), grabbed my things, and buckled and strapped them on as I went out the door.

I gave myself a pep talk as I went. Kiba has Akamaru, who really is a sweet, fluffy dog.

_  
:Yeah, if by sweet and fluffy you mean killer: _

The way that he is so close to Akamaru shows that he has a soft and playful side. I'd seen them playing games on more than one occasion.

_:Yeah, but I bet Akamaru thinks training to kill people is a game too.:_

It was cute that he could understand Akamaru and talk to him.

_:That's what got us into this shit in the first place—those beastly powers.:_

He was a good, strong fighter, and did his best to remain calm and think things through—unlike Naruto, who even now still had a tendency to lose his temper and go in with fists flailing. Although, Naruto has gotten a lot better about it. As long as I remembered to use scent-covering jutsus when I was near Kiba, I should be okay. He was a nice, sweet, innocent guy just like Naruto.

I came over a rise and saw Kiba lounging against the bridge, waiting. It was breezy this morning, and I had the breeze at my back. Shoot, I hadn't expected to be second—I quickly performed the jutsu, but Kiba was already looking in my direction expectantly, and as I came over the rise, he looked at me with a wicked smile.

What had I been thinking? Kiba wasn't like Naruto at all.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

What does Kiba have to say to Sakura? Who will be the fourth member of their group? When will Kakashi show up? Find out next week!

Oh, and please, leave a review before you go!


	6. Getting Tired of the Color Black

AN: Well, I FINALLY have a working computer. huggles iMac I will never leave you for a laptop ever again! So, Chapter Six is here, thanks for all of your wonderful reviews! Expect Chapter Seven soon, before Christmas!

Disclaimer: As always, do not own.

**_Mmmmmm_** scene break

:_jlakjhlkjh:_ Inner Sakura

**Chapter 6**

As I walked towards Kiba, I considered the possible courses of action. Option A was to run away, never my favorite. Option B was to continue to be nervous and uncertain, which was beginning to get old. Option C was to be strong and determined, and to remember that I learned more than healing from Tsunade—something that Naruto got a semi-regular taste of. So I sauntered up to Kiba with a smile on my lips.

"Good morning, Kiba." _:Just let him try something, heh heh heh.:_ I tilted my head to look up at him.

"Hello, Sakura," he rumbled at me. Nice—I loved that growly, husky quality to his voice. Point to Kiba for sounding good. He bent closer while still leaning against the railing, but I held my ground. He had four to six inches on me in height. Not tall, but tall enough. I'll say this for him, he definitely had the looming thing down. I think it was the fact that he was broad—a lot of our taller ninjas are on the leaner side—muscular, and toned— _:And dead sexy::_ —but Kiba had broad shoulders and a trim waist. He was overly bulky, but definitely one hundred percent ripped, muscled male. I made a strong effort to reel in my hormones by turning my gaze away from his chest—which looked delicious even when it was covered by an open vest and the long sleeve shirt that most jounin- and chuunin-level men wear—he's not the only muscular ninja! Kiba had a handsome face as well: strong lines that gave him a well defined jaw, dark eyes that gave him a perpetually wicked look. The clan tattoos just added to the sexy bad boy image that was topped by an unruly mop of dark hair. _:I bet he purposely tousles it like that: _Inner Sakura wistfully sighed. No, Kiba didn't have to do much to look like he was trying to tempt you into doing something mouth-wateringly naughty. He looked like a living sex god. Hmm, that whole controlling the hormones thing wasn't working. If I were a weaker woman…well, to put it bluntly, we'd have a lot less clothes on.

His smile deepened. "You…smell delectable this morning."

My eyes narrowed, but I managed to contain my look of surprise (the gasp too—I definitely get a point for that). "You're lying. I'm using a scent-covering jutsu."

"Ah, but the scent-covering jutsus don't cover a change in your scent," he smirked at me, as he leaned in closer. "And I'll let you in on a little secret."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow, and tried to control my heartbeat. I slowly clenched my right fist.

Kiba moved his head even closer, and inhaled, with his nose near my neck just under my ear. It tickled a bit and I twitched before I caught myself. Think cold, think Ice Queen. Yeah. Damn, it wasn't working.

"Scent-covering jutsus don't work on me."

I felt something wet touch my neck, and in a burst of speed I stepped back and slammed my fist into his right cheek, sending him into the river. Akamaru stood up in surprise and barked, looking though the railing at Kiba, who was sitting in the water, a hand to his cheek.

"Son of a bitch, Sakura, a little warning next time!"

"I'm sorry, perhaps I didn't make it clear: _nobody_ gets into my pants. So stop trying, or else you'll just end up getting hurt." This was the approach I _should_ have taken with Shino the other day. Oh well. I'll set him straight when I get back from the mission.

I heard some footsteps on the bridge, and then a small gasp.

"Oh, Kiba, what happened?" Hinata asked, a couple of worry lines creasing her forehead. Kiba shook his head, flinging water drops everywhere, and jumped onto the bridge. I walked over and held up a hand glowing blue with chakra.

"Truce?" I asked.

He lowered his hand and allowed me to place my hand on his cheekbone. I didn't damage it too badly—the strength of my punches was controlled by the amount of chakra I used, so it's easy for me to do it. But I _did _get him pretty hard, although I know for a fact that his speed rivals Kakashi, so he _should_ have been on his guard enough to dodge it. Especially since I hadn't even been trying that hard to conceal my intent.

"For now," he said, his eyes looking at me hotly. I sighed. This was going to be a headache of a mission, I could tell already.

"Wait a second," I turned my head, "Hinata, are you the fourth member?"

"Oh, yes," she said, looking as puzzled as I did. "You're going as well?"

"Yeah." But why would they have two medic jounins on one team? Was there going to be a fifth member? It was rare enough to have two medic-nins at all, unless one was an apprentice and needed the experience that the mission would bring. I began to wonder what sort of retrieval mission this was, exactly. Even if we needed Hinata's other skills, there were other Hyuugas who were jounin—even an experienced chuunin could do an A level mission. Hell, I had been doing A-level missions since I was a genin (granted, I did a hell of a lot better once I was a chuunin, but still).

"Our mission is to retrieve a scroll." Kakashi teleported in with a puff of smoke, reading his book.

"That's _it_? Two experienced medic-nins for _that_?" I asked in disbelief.

"We have reason to believe that a rogue ninja with medical training may have it." _Rogue_ ninja? Why didn't he just say missing-nin? But his words still sent a chill through me—a ninja with medical training can cause a lot of damage—we know how to fix it, so we know how to cause it. The ninja must have begun to harass civilians, or he was threatening to—it was the only reason that Hinata and I would have been paired together. It also meant that he was powerful, or that he was going to do something widespread, possibly both—something that they thought Hinata and I couldn't handle unless we had another medic-nin to partner with.

"Why not just send hunter-nins and send a team of medic-nins to deal with the aftermath?" I asked.

"Normally that's what we _would_ do," Kakashi said. "Or we would alert the hunter-nins from his village. But in this case, we don't have a record of him as a missing-nin. In fact, we don't have a record of him even existing."

Was it just someone with an assumed name? But intelligence would have discovered that easily. A zombie medic-nin? Was that possible? No—we could revive ourselves from the brink of death, but we couldn't be reborn. Could someone have raised him from the dead? But the only person I knew who could do that was Orochimaru, and he was definitely dead—with his soul sealed and his body dismembered and buried in separate locations so that he was impossible to raise (in the event that somebody else learned the forbidden jutsu that allowed them to raise the dead and control them).

"So he must be powerful, huh? Well then let's go. We're not going to get anything done standing here chatting," Kiba said impatiently. He was right—any other important information could be imparted to us later.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm **_

We got to the village as the sun was setting, and it was obvious from the start that something was wrong. It was completely quiet—no sounds from domestic animals or wildlife, no signs of life at all. I stretched out some tendrils of chakra, knowing that my teammates were doing the same thing, and stiffened in horror. Many were dead—most were on the verge of dying, their feeble chakra flickering. Hinata and I both started forward at the same time, preparing to take action, but were halted by Kakashi and Kiba, who hauled us back.

"Don't be reckless," Kakashi said. "It's obviously some sort of trap."

"I didn't sense anything," I said, trying to twist my wrist from Kiba's hold. "At least let us treat the ones near the edge of the village, I didn't sense anything. Do you see anything Hinata?" Another downfall of being a medic—the compulsion to treat those in need. It's usually impossible to resist—unless, of course, we're talking about Orochimaru or some other psychopath.

"No, I only see the villagers. I don't see one standing," Hinata said fretfully, looking around with her Byakugan.

"Kiba, let me go, we have to help them!" I was beginning to get frantic. I couldn't have their lives on my conscience. Hinata was also leaning away from Kakashi.

Kakashi sighed. "You and Hinata begin treating the villagers, Kiba and I will scout around the village."

"Good," I shot over my shoulder as I sped towards the nearest house. "Get firewood and water while you're at it—wait, the water may be contaminated, let me check the water first." I leapt onto the nearest rooftop and began looking for the main source of water as I performed a rather easy water-detection jutsu. Kiba landed next to me.

"Akamaru can already smell the water, he can take you," he said, then leapt to another rooftop.

I looked at Akamaru, who easily came up to my hip when he was on all fours. "Okay, Akamaru, take me there as fast as you can go."

Akamaru gave me this look that said, "yeah, and you try to keep up with me" before leaping to the next rooftop. I admit it, I had to use a speed jutsu to keep up with him.

There was a river that looked as though it probably fed any wells that the villagers might use. A swift but thorough examination revealed that the water was fine. I was trying to work as quickly as I could, and barely had time to think that it was odd—usually when something hit an entire village and left no man standing it was from contaminated food or water. There is usually at least one person resistant to a disease, even if it is of epidemic proportions.

"Akamaru, I need you to take me to the nearest well—can you find one?" Akamaru sniffed the air then bounded away and I ran after him. The well water was not contaminated either. I hadn't seen or smelled anything that might have been leftover food or waste from a festival. I hadn't seen any sign of any oxen or something that would feed an entire village, so that left out poisoned food. Hinata had probably diagnosed what was wrong now though, so I sent Akamaru in search of her. Having Akamaru was useful—it saved me time and chakra. I wonder if I could talk Kiba into giving me a puppy. Hmm….probably not, since it was a clan thing. He'd probably use it to try to take advantage of me anyway.

I jumped down from a roof and went inside the house that Akamaru was standing in front of. Hinata looked up, the veins next to her eyes pulsing with chakra.

"Their chakra circulation systems have been poisoned, and whatever the disease is, it uses the chakra system to turn their bodies against themselves. Their chakra must be purified before their physical system can be righted." We stared at each other. That was a Herculean task, and there was no way we'd have enough chakra to help them all and then fix their bodies on top of it. I held a hand over the woman Hinata was kneeling next to.

"It doesn't feel viral—or contagious for that matter. A jutsu?" I said to Hinata.

"That's what I think," Hinata said. We fell silent again. I had never heard of a jutsu that could cause a disease—and certainly not a widespread one like this. Of course, once you had a thorough knowledge of the basics in medical jutsus, creating your own was easy. But this was truly horrifying, and the quiet moans that I could hear now that I wasn't rushing around the village were disturbing.

"I think I know what we could do," I said. "But it will only work to purify their chakra, and it will take a massive amount of ours to do it."

I went outside and briefed Akamaru on the disease, and gave him instructions (to give to Kiba and Kakashi) to keep the villagers hydrated and warm, and to pile dead bodies outside the village perimeter, and to burn them. Akamaru went off like a shot, and Hinata joined me outside. I pulled out ink and began writing on scraps of paper. Hinata, catching onto the idea, began to do the same with her supplies.

"So we're sealing the perimeter of the village, and then what? You know a purification jutsu?"

"Well, not exactly," I said. "Do you know Tsunade's rejuvenation technique? It's similar to that, but instead of healing everything and losing years of our lives, we're going to rejuvenate their chakra. Rejuvenation, purification, it's essentially the same principle. Their chakra levels are dangerously low anyway. And we're going to apply that on a larger scale than just one body. So slap these on, and connect them all with a strand of your chakra, and I'll do the same."

"Let's just connect our chakra now, that way we don't each have to do a full circuit." She reached out a finger glowing with chakra towards me. I held up a finger and we touched them together, concentrating on making our chakra stick to each other, then pulled away, and a ribbon of two slightly different shades of blue connected our fingers.

"See you in the center in five," I said as I took off. The center of the village was marked with a fountain and a sort of town square-type area. Connecting Hinata's chakra to each paper was easier said than done, but the fact that we had worked together in the hospital before helped.

When we got to the center, we faced each other and put our hands in front of each other, palms touching.

"We should definitely use ram," Hinata said.

"Yeah, and dragon."

"Dog?"

"And hare?"

"Ram, dog, hare, dragon?"

"Better stick a horse and serpent in there—horse after dog."

"And serpent after dragon."

"Right. I'll be the right hand, you the left?" I asked. She nodded. With our hands together, we each formed half of two symbols. Doing two symbols would help focus more chakra, and would also help us to use more chakra faster, and by using one hand from each of us to form the symbols, it continued to mix our chakra, giving it one focus.

We formed the symbols—ram, dog, horse, hare, dragon, serpent, and our chakra was released. Using strong symbols, and symbols promoting protection, and strength in adversity made our chakra balloon into a blue dome, confined by the perimeter of the seal that we made. Hinata and I directed the chakra down into the bodies of the living. I don't know what Hinata did, but I envisioned our chakra as a wave, and as it washed over the people it took away the impurities in their system, purifying it. It seemed like a tidal wave, and as quickly as our chakra was released, it was around us, filled with the contaminants. I directed the impurities to be burned away except for a small sample, which was siphoned into a vial I had laid next to me. Then our chakra fizzled out, used up, and on wobbly legs I reached down for the vial and closed it then sat and leaned against the fountain.

"You okay Hinata?" I had my eyes closed.

"Yeah," she said. We sat there for a bit. Sleep was teasing the corner of my closed eyelids.

"We need to break the circle." It kept everything out and everything in, and needed to be taken down so we could reunite with our team mates.

I didn't get an answer. I wasn't surprised. She had already been purifying chakra before I found her, and so probably used up more of her reserves than I did. But I wasn't too far behind her in falling asleep. I forced myself to get up, and used my last bit of chakra to displace to the nearest paper. I ripped it off the tree and sat under it. It was a delightfully shady spot, but it was still warm outside.

"I'll find them later," I mumbled as I fell asleep.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

I woke up feeling deliciously warm, and there was a soft blanket on me. And it was kind of heavy on my stomach. I cracked my eyes open and looked down my body.

"Hey Akamaru," I croaked. I needed water. And wow did I feel nauseous. Nothing like a little chakra depletion to make you feel like utter crap. I started to sit up and Akamaru whined at me and put a paw on my chest, forcing me back down. I really didn't have the strength to argue with a 130-pound dog. The he stood up and I felt an arm lifting my shoulders, supporting my head.

"Bless you, and your children, and your children's children," I muttered gratefully as I sipped the water Kakashi was holding to my lips.

"How are the villagers doing?" I asked after I finished the water. Kakashi gave me a stern look and held up a bowl of broth with what looked like vegetables.

"Eat," he said, holding a spoon to my mouth. Well, someone was grumpy!

"Where's Hinata?" I asked after a couple of spoonfuls.

"We separated you two so you don't do anything idiotic without consulting your captain first," Kakashi growled at me. I humphed after swallowing another mouthful.

"I can feed myself, you know. And it wasn't idiotic. We did what needed to be done," I said primly as I reached for the bowl, which Kakashi pulled away from me. Bastard. But I probably would have dropped it anyway. I was still feeling a little weak.

Kakashi muttered something about medic-nins and being suicidal, but I chose to ignore him and instead turned my eyes inward to examine my body. I was fine, just tired. Running out of stamina and chakra will do that to you. And as a defense mechanism, your body forces you to feel tired so you can rest and get back what you used up. I finished the soup and stretched.

"So brief me, oh great and wondrous captain."

"No sign of any traps. There was a struggle at the temple where the scroll was held, but that's it—just a village of diseased villagers. Whatever you did seemed to have stopped the progression of the disease—nobody has died."

I lowered my voice to just above a whisper. "Do you think the medic-nin is still in the area?"

Kakashi gave a shrug. "It's possible. This was most likely used as a delay tactic. But for what purpose? There's a variety of possibilities—an attack on the town, to stall us while he escapes, a combination of the two. We will have to wait."

"An attack? How long have I been sleeping?"

"A full day." The bush rustled, and as quick as a blink Kakashi had a kunai in one hand while starting a jutsu with the other, but it was just Akamaru, who woofed at Kakashi.

"Ah. Hinata seems to have awoken."

"So why are you really keeping us separate? A team is supposed to stick together."

Kakashi looked at me. "Because doing what you two did makes you both very desirable targets for the rogue nin. Therefore you stay separated."

"But all we did was reverse the jutsu he did! It wasn't that hard, and it was over in a second!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You created an isolated explosion of chakra which then swept through the village for a couple of hours, during which time, by the way, Kiba and I were locked out by your circle, and had no idea what was going on because you failed to inform Akamaru of your intentions."

Well when you put it that way…I was kind of touched by his concern. Gave me the warm fuzzies, it did.

"Heh…oops. Wait, two hours? It felt like a few minutes!" No wonder I was so tired. But I had patients to tend to. I began to get to my feet.

"What do you think you're doing?" He sounded awfully calm. That was a dangerous tone of voice.

"Going to check on my patients. You can come if you want." I took a step forward and tripped, Kakashi caught me and lowered me back onto my sleeping bag.

"That was your foot wasn't it?" I glared at him.

"If you couldn't even avoid something as obvious as that you aren't fit to get out of bed. I can see how low your chakra levels are. Sleep."

I muttered under my breath. I was going to fake being asleep until he left—he couldn't stay next to me forever. I closed my eyes and turned on my side, then I felt a small surge of chakra and felt Kakashi's finger on my forehead. That son of a bitch! That was the last thought I had time for before I fell into a jutsu-induced sleep.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

Who is the rogue nin? Will he attack the village? Will someone get hurt? What's going on over in Kiba and Hinata's section of the town? Will Sakura ever get past Kakashi and get out of bed? Find out in Chapter 7!

AN: Hm…I'm noticing Sakura sleeps a lot in this story, and I end a lot of chapters like that. Well, expect that to change (the unnecessary sleeping).

I used the symbols according to animal symbolism in various cultures. I used the following webpages:

used ram, because people under the sign of the sheep/ram in the Chinese zodiac are supposed to be good healers. The other signs were chosen essentially for wisdom, protection, strength, good fortune, power, and for succeeding in difficult times.

As always, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!


	7. Sakura Gets a Taste of Bondage

AN: This chapter just did not want to be written. I have three, yes, count 'em, THREE mostly complete yet entirely different versions of this chapter. And they're all freaking long. The only thing they lacked was being polished. And then I decided I hated them all and wrote this one. And you all love me because I am pulling an all nighter finishing the damn thing. Damn you chapter 7, you're supposed to be my lucky number!

AN2: Thanks so much to everyone who is reviewing. For future reference, I am also posting this at you don't know what site that is, you are quite possible too young to be reading this story anyway! Naughty child. I am doing this so that for future lemons, I can snip them as per rules and leave them in for If this happens, READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES SO YOU KNOW WHERE TO GET YOUR SMUT! Links will be in the profile or in the story after I figure out how to make them visible on Damn you and your formatting and your lack of showing my ? and ! combo. That's like the best punctuation combination ever!

Right, onto the good bits.

**_Mmmmmmmmmmmm_** Scene break

_: blablabla :_ Inner Sakura

Soundtrack: _Enchanted, by Delerium_ (oh Goth music, how do I love thee? Like a bloody rose with lots of thorns to represent all of my ANGST—oh fantabulous mockery.)

**Chapter Seven**

I pulled my senses in again, then wiped my hand across the sweat that was trickling into my eyes. To say that I was testing my limits was an understatement. I was so far beyond my usual boundaries I didn't even know where I was. After Kakashi was satisfied that Hinata and I had recovered enough to heal the villagers, we did exactly that while he and Kiba patrolled the village and surrounding areas. I was trancing down and relaying the information to her as she flitted from house to house, her Byakugan able to see clearly whom I was referring to. I had never spoken while in a trance before, and the effort to use that tiny portion of my mind that was still in my body while still maintaining my stretch was beginning to wear on me. Periodically I would pull myself in and move to another location that I could stretch out from. I wasn't sure what my current range was, but it was _way_ beyond six feet. We had been working for hours; I'm sure Hinata was just as tired as I was. But all of the worst cases had been dealt with, and so had the children. We were currently working on the older portion of the population, then I would join her in healing the rest, without being in a trance. The trance helped me to monitor multiple bodies' conditions at once, a good thing for senior citizens, because their bodies can somewhat unpredictably stop sometimes.

I stood and stretched, then moved to where I remembered there had been some older citizens. I sat and refreshed the vocalization jutsu on me— it amplified my voice so I didn't have to scream to Hinata—and began to stretch my senses out, which was a relief, because I was starting to get hungry, and this way I didn't feel it, except for a slight wisp of it on the edge of my mind. Once I had determined the status of the villagers in the area I was in, I waited for Hinata to enter my circle of chakra. As soon as I felt her now very familiar chakra signature I directed her to the oldest person in need—a woman at the very edge of my circle directly opposite of Hinata. My mind wandered as Hinata worked next to the old woman.

It seemed to me that Kakashi became more and more protective of us as we got older. Not so much of Naruto, but it was there all the same—the willingness to take a blow for us, the anger and concern when we pushed ourselves too hard or made what he thought were reckless choices. But we're all like that. As we've grown older and lost more people we've known, we hold our so-called precious people closer and closer to our hearts. I do it when I lecture them as I heal them when they come back from missions, when I tearfully scream at them when I find out they didn't check into the hospital after they've return and I run to their apartments in the middle of the night. Naruto, when he isn't on my mission, is always waiting for me, unless he's on a mission himself. Sometimes when I get back extremely late I'll find Ino sleeping in my bed, a magazine lying across her stomach, or Lee or Hinata sitting in my living room drinking tea with Ino, or Kakashi waiting outside my door, leaning against the wall, reading a book. When Ino's on a mission, Shikamaru and Chouji will come over to our apartment, and we'll eat chips into the wee hours waiting for her to come back. Tenten often joins us, and sometimes Asuma will show up too. The day after a mission everyone not on a mission always gathers at a pub, to reassure each other that we're all still alive and well. We're a morbid lot after brushing hands with Death so many times.

A niggling feeling on the edge of my circle pulled me from my reverie. It was a…blob—for lack of a better word—of unfamiliar chakra. I concentrated on it in puzzlement. It wasn't a person, it didn't feel like a person. I wouldn't know for certain until it entered the circle of my senses. I opened my mouth to alert Hinata, but it inexplicably sped up, and I realized it had honed in on me. I hastily began pulling myself in as I shouted a warning to Hinata, and I felt her dart away, then my awareness shrank until I surrounded my body and slowly began pulling my consciousness inside, not desiring a repeat of my practice session at the waterfall. I could still feel the chakra blob though, and it was headed straight for me. I tried to hurry a tiny bit, focusing on returning to myself. But it wasn't enough. I barely had enough time to open my eyes and turn around when it hit me square in the chest and knocked me back into the side of a house. The air was forced out of my lungs and I struggled for air against the pressure that was being exerted on my body. It felt like the time when Gaara had me pinned to a tree when I was thirteen. The chakra blob pushed on me harder, like it was trying to get inside me, then slowly lifted—no, it slowly entered me! I tried to repel it with my own chakra but it didn't work. Quickly, I went through the symbols for a purification jutsu and held my glowing hands to my chest, but it didn't work. At least, I didn't feel a difference.

Suddenly the pressure lifted, and I could breathe, and there was no hint of any foreign chakra. I applied the purification jutsu to myself again, but I didn't feel any different after it made the sweep through my body. Had it been a warning? A flex of the proverbial muscles? I saw Hinata speed into view, Kiba with her, and Kakashi popped in to existence in front of me, his book not in front of his face for once, but he wasn't in any offensive or defensive position that I could see, other than the fact that his Sharingan eye was uncovered.

"You don't sense anything do you?" I asked. Maybe the foreign chakra had screwed up my sensing abilities. Maybe it had screwed up my ability to use chakra, and that's why the purification didn't work. I _know_ I felt it entering me. But my hands _had_ been glowing—maybe whatever jutsu it was hadn't taken effect though. Kakashi shook his head and looked towards me. I held up a hand.

"Don't come any closer. Not until Hinata looks me over and I am one hundred percent free of suspicion. Under Article 45, clause 3 of our bylaws, I am turning myself in as a possessed spy and a tool used by the enemy."

Kakashi wordlessly used a jutsu, and I found my hands bound tightly behind me with chakra, one on top of the other so that I couldn't form any chakra-focusing symbols. My legs were bound with chakra as well, and as I began to totter he tossed me over his shoulder. Talk about déjà vu. I could tell that he was not happy about this development at all. Kiba looked furious but didn't say anything, and we headed to our base camp, Hinata looking concerned but keeping the Byakugan activated.

Once I was placed inside a circle that Kakashi inked out, Hinata began my examination.

She shook her head. "Nothing."

My jaw dropped. "That's not possible! Trance down, do a full sweep Hinata."

She gave me a strange look. "I _did_ Sakura. Didn't you sense me? And I don't see anything different with your chakra either. Try doing a simple jutsu."

A simple jutsu. Hm…I guess I could try a water jutsu, I tend to be pretty good at those. I went through the signs for a jutsu to produce a small amount of water, useful for those times when you need to rehydrate and don't have time to find a river. And…I got nothing. I frowned and tried again. I couldn't even feel my chakra forming and gathering like it would under normal circumstances.

"Um…Hinata…what do you see?" My voice quavered a bit, but I got it under control. I refused to panic.

"It…it was like you weren't even trying," Hinata said, crestfallen. I tried a fireball jutsu, then a simple healing jutsu, then an earth jutsu. I tried the Kawarimi no Jutsu, the Kage Bunshin, and the Kuchiyose. Failure every time.

"I'm going to seal you anyway, Sakura, until we get back to Konoha." That came from Kakashi, and I completely agreed. He had planned on sealing my ability to use chakra in case it was some sort of possession jutsu, which seemed like the best possibility. The only odd part was that you can usually detect possession jutsus, and they usually leave a mark. I had stripped down to my underwear and there was no mark. There wasn't any bruising from the wall I had been thrown into by the chakra either. The only evidence that anything had happened was, according to Kiba and Akamaru, the faint scent of chakra in my chest region. And no, I really don't want to discuss that particular bit of the examination. I had my bandeau and underwear on and that was about it. Over time, due to various circumstances, you see a lot of ninjas in various states of undress, and they've seen me, so the nudity isn't that big of a deal—unless, of course, you have Kiba snuffling in between your breasts. That's a horse of a different color. Thank god I had worn the red lacy boy cut shorts/thong underwear and not some boring cotton thing! I think I had a couple of pairs of bikini-cut underwear still…back from the dark ages before I discovered the wonder that is the thong. No panty lines make Sakura a very happy girl. What can I say, I like to show my best side as often as possible. Especially when I get to sit in my underwear for who knows how long and I have people and dogs sniffing at my chest area.

I had stripped off my bandeau after Kiba and Akamaru left to patrol the perimeter, because Kakashi said that putting a seal over the entry point of foreign chakra was convention, and I seemed to remember Tsunade saying something about that as well. I've never actually formed a seal on anyone. I've formed lots of chakra circles of various types, but usually that happens when I'm working on or with more than one person. Seals are really more of a Kakashi/Jiraiya/Naruto thing. So I knelt on the ground in just my underwear, my skin getting all goosepimply as the sun set and the temperature dropped. For the examination and sealing procedure my chakra bonds had been dropped. The chakra circle would keep me in anyway. That, and I would be getting some snazzy metal shackles shortly. The excitement, I tell you, was too much.

A few minutes later, and Kakashi's bloody hand came to rest in between my breasts, his palm slightly under them. I saw the signs come rushing up my arms, my legs, but I didn't feel the rush of chakra. Kakashi removed his hand and I had a handy dandy seal of my own, mostly under my breasts, but coming up slightly in between them. I could still wear the majority of my low-cut shirts. Of course there were a couple of shirts with a plunging neckline that went past my breasts but I really have no idea where those came from…really…

I sighed. Naruto was going to shit a brick when he saw the seal. And I say "when," not "if," because he'd read pretty much every scroll we had on seals, making him something of an authority on them. Amazingly enough, Naruto learned best by reading, not by hearing things and having them demonstrated, although the demonstrations helped. Have him read something though, and it's almost instantaneous understanding. It turns out that he had been through the Academy classes so many times, though, that he just stopped reading the material, so by the time he was twelve he forgot it all. Oy.

But anyway, Naruto was going to be consulted because most possession jutsus used a seal of some sort, and Kakashi thought that the seal from the chakra entering me was invisible. And since Kakashi was more of a user of seals than a scholar, Jiraiya and Tsunade would of course be there. Actually, they probably would have been there anyway. Joy of all joys. Nudity for everyone. Maybe I should just take a picture and blow it up and stick a giant billboard of myself in the middle of Konoha.

The seal was some circular affair with scrolly spirally bits and some dotty looking bits and kanji type bits. It looked kind of like Naruto's seal, actually. But obviously it was a lot less dangerous and life-threatening. Really it was just supposed to prevent me from using my own chakra. We use these seals on all of our ninja captives. For some reason, though I don't remember seeing any up close. Oh, right, that would be because most of our ninja captives don't live, and we usually don't care too much about their health—heal them enough to keep them alive, that sort of thing. This is not an uplifting or particularly comforting topic. I mean, they're not going to kill me, but I'm sure my life won't be the sunshine and daisies it usually is until the problem is determined.

I pulled on my bandeau, black sleeveless mesh shirt, black pants, and jounin vest—have to wear the uniform while on missions. Black tee shirt or long sleeve shirt that goes underneath is optional. I have an ANBU-esque uniform as well for when I go on ANBU missions (I chose not to be in ANBU, although I received an offer to take their examinations, and they're shorthanded on nins with medical knowledge, so I get borrowed occasionally—I think Hinata does too but since everything is hush-hush…well, you get the picture).

Kakashi pulled the aforementioned snazzy metal shackles out, and my wrists were cuffed in front of me, separated by a bar a few inches across, and my legs were separated my a length of black rubber-encased chain that was about two feet across. I looked at Kakashi and raised my eyebrows.

"In front of me? You know that's not how it's done."

He rubbed his hand across his face. "I don't feel like discussing this with you. Go to sleep." I was dumped on my sleeping bag, and he melted into the shadows to take up his guard post. I kicked a rock.

"Well this sucks. You think you'll be okay to handle the rest of the villagers, Hinata?" I asked, frustrated with the situation. Why me! I'll allow myself a small pity party—someone needs to pick on the boys for a change. Is it the pink hair? Maybe I need to work on looking menacing. They should pick on Hinata, she's shorter than me and therefore must look even more vulnerable. Except for the eyes—the eyes definitely creep out people who haven't heard about the Hyuuga phenomenon. Damn. I need to get some contacts.

"Yes, of course. It will take longer, but…" she shrugged.

"Well we _do_ have two weeks for the mission—and it's been what? About five days?" Hard to tell when you're unconscious for a large portion of it. "I think Tsunade anticipated this…plague. But the intel was awfully scarce. I wonder why he chose now to make an appearance. And why do what he does? It's hard to deny the compulsion to heal, he must…he has to be really twisted." My voice caught in my throat, thinking of other twisted individuals and other times I came into contact with them.

"It must be a grudge," Hinata said softly. "This village must have done something to him."

"Real or imaginary? We're probably dealing with a psycho of Gaara proportions—before he met Naruto, that is."

Hinata was silent in contemplation, and as I stared into the fire, I decided that sleep was probably a good idea. I really didn't want to think about what kind of person's chakra had entered my body.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

I had finally dozed off after staring at the fire for what seemed like _hours_ when I was pulled to my feet and I began walking. There is nothing that fries your brain like your body moving on your own. Oh…my…GOD! He turned me into a zombie! I opened my mouth to alert whoever was on watch but my mouth snapped close. My body walked for maybe fifteen minutes, and I struggled—I put my entire will into it, and my will is _not_ to be taken lightly, and I got nothing. It must be the foreign chakra. It was definitely a possession jutsu. I was brought to a very small clearing, and a man—it was definitely a man-shape—leaned against a tree in the shadows.

"So…you are the girl I sensed earlier. That was quite a little operation you put together there."

"I assume you're referring to the reversal purification?" Ah, my voice worked again, thought it might. "I can really only take half-credit for it."

He began to circle me, trying to make me nervous. Yeah, good luck buddy, you've got nothing. If it weren't for the minor detail that he could control my body, I wouldn't look twice at this guy. _: Yeah, come and fight like a real man! Asshole::_

"That may be, but your little friend isn't in your…unique…position."

"Shall I assume that you're referring to the fact that I'm possessed by you?"

He laughed. "Oh no, no, although there _is_ that. I meant, my dear, your maturity. And yet you're still fresh, young, and more importantly, _untouched_."

Okay, I know I said I didn't want to get involved with anyone, but the virginity thing had to go. It was annoying at best anyway—I wasn't really saving it for anyone, and look at the trouble it was getting me into! This isn't the first time I've been hit on for being a suspected virgin—it's not even the first time it's happened on a mission. Stupid men and their objectification of women. Well, I had a special punch just for this guy. Wait—my maturity—oh shiiiii—

"You can sense it?" My voice came out wispier than intended, and I hated that. Not what we were taught in shinobi school about not showing surprise.

"Of course. I am a chakra manipulation master." Ah—that would explain why we couldn't detect his chakra in my body, and why there was no mark. He had melded his chakra into mine. A chakra manipulation master specializes in working with raw chakra—he doesn't need to form the hand signs in order to get the right jutsu. But from what I understand, it takes more chakra to do a jutsu without the hand signs even for them.

"So you're not a medic-nin then." He just fooled around with the villagers' chakra systems then let nature take its course. Bad chakra system equals havoc on the body, you know.

Another chuckle. His laugh was really annoying too, it was high-pitched and kind of nasally. And he had a higher tenor-type voice too. It made me nostalgic for my growly men.

"Oh no, no. Just some rumors I put around, hoping they would send a powerful, talented medic such as yourself. I can't believe you believed them. You're a rather droll one, aren't you?" His voice lowered a bit and took on a raspy quality. "You'll make a perfect mate." He darted towards me, but I dodged to the side.

His hold over my body had loosened since he was allowing me to speak. Unfortunately, due to the restraints, my movement was limited.

"How can you sense it?" I asked. Information is always good, no matter the source. "Do you have some sort of animal affinity?" And it's a wonderful distraction device. I slowly kept moving away from him, watching carefully for any sudden moves. All I knew about this "taking a mate" business was that there was sex and a mark of some sort. I figured as long as I stayed away from him I'd be safe.

"No, of course not. You _are_ a silly little girl, aren't you." Okay, his condescending tone was pissing me off. "As I said before, I am a chakra manipulation _master_. I could sense it in the way your chakra was so beautifully balanced with your body—it's a work of art, the chakra flow in the body of a matured woman, the way it streams through your body, strong and ready to be used at a moment's need—and of course I saw how effortlessly you used it."

"Oh, that. I've always had good chakra control," I flapped a hand nonchalantly. I had noticed that lately as well—it was even easier to mold chakra and control it—that is, until that rat bastard screwed it up. _: Yeah, I'll give you an up close and personal demonstration of how good it is. Mess with MY chakra:: _

"Yes, well, it shows," he sent an admiring glance down my body. Oh man, I really craved a hot shower right then. "But enough chitchat, now that I have found you, it is time." Then I was frozen; he pounced and took me to the ground.

"Wait," I gasped. "Don't I have to be willing?" Yeah, I made that up.

He pulled back from almost kissing me—talk about a close call. "I hadn't heard that before."

"And really," I babbled, "don't you want a mate who can use their chakra?"

"Oh, that," he smiled evilly—and not a sexy evil, the bad kind, like…Orochimaru, shudder. "When I melded my chakra with yours, I suppressed your ability to use your chakra. It's entirely reversible, I assure you. But only if you have another chakra manipulation master who can unbind my chakra from yours. There's also the added bonus, as I'm sure you've noticed, of me being able to control your body. It's a bit like a possession jutsu, just more…organic…raw…unformed." A lecherous smile crossed his face and he pushed his hips into mine. Oh great, a guy who got turned on by talking about chakra. A chakra manipulation master? Ugh. I couldn't think of anyone like that in Konoha, but I was also slightly panicky.

I tried to push him off of me, but I still couldn't move—with the exception of my mouth it seemed. That was probably a good thing. Let's _not_ anger the psycho.

"But why me, why not some other matured female?"

He looked surprised. "What do you think the purpose of this operation was? You were the lucky one who showed up." Great. Give me a prize.

"Wouldn't you rather have a responsive partner?" Grasping at straws here.

"I'm sure you'll get the hint if I tell you how nice it was for your partners to restrain you for me," he said with a glint in his eye. Great. This was my future. A BDSM maniac who could control my chakra and body. Brilliant.

"But…but…don't you want to know my name?" Could we get any more lame? No, but we can't get any more desperate either.

"Not particularly, but if it will put your mind at ease, you may tell me."

"Sakura."

"Cherry blossom, eh? How appropriate for someone who's about to lose their virginity." And he lowered his face to kiss me. That was terrible—how corny can you get!

"Wait! Don't I get to know your name?"

"Rafu." And then a hand came down on his shoulder and he slumped on top of me. I shoved him off.

"It took you long enough," I said to Hinata as I brushed myself down as best I could given the circumstances.

"We had some jutsus to break through," Kiba said, growling. "You need to bathe, you reek of him."

"Well no shit," I snapped, "considering that he wanted to make me his mate."

Kiba frowned at that, and Kakashi knelt next to the man.

"How much did you hear?" I hope they hadn't caught—

"Enough to know about his proclivities for bondage and virgins." That came from Kakashi. Well, fantastic, that will just make them even more overprotective. Kakashi slapped some restraints on him—done properly, behind the back.

"He's a chakra manipulation master, or so he said." And Kakashi turned around and put chakra-sealing bindings on him as well.

"We'll upgrade to a seal at camp."

Kiba took me and Kakashi took Rafu and we set off back to camp, Hinata doing diagnostic jutsus on me as we went.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

"So it's probably best if he just stays unconscious all the way back to Konoha," I said, finishing up my tale of woe. You might think that was dramatic, but it was definitely woe—as in "woe is me."

I got a nod from Kakashi, who told Hinata to see to it. We found the scroll on him, it was some ritual the temple did. As far as we could tell from speculation, he chose this village because they had the funds to hire us, he knew they would hire Konoha ninjas since we were in the same country, and because we had strong ninja—and apparently a higher number of kunoichi than other villages. This was debatable, because other villages hadn't been as openly involved against Sound and the Akatsuki like we had been, so it was difficult to tell, other than at chuunin and jounin exams. But he was dangerous, so he needed to be brought back to Konoha to determine how much of a threat he was, if he could be swayed to work for us, if we needed to eliminate him, etc. Oh, and he needed to remove his chakra from my body—but I wasn't letting him near me with a twenty-foot pole unless he proved himself to be trustworthy, which, as far as I was concerned, he couldn't.

"But…I don't know if we have any chakra manipulation masters in Konoha. Maybe the other villages…" I bit my lip as I trailed off. I would die if I could never be a ninja again. I was having a Rock Lee moment.

"Sakura," Kakashi said. "What do you think the Raikiri is?"

I stared at him blankly. "Isn't it raw chak—oh! You? You mean you can do it? But I didn't think you were a specialized jounin! But you couldn't sense his chakra."

He looked amused—tired, slightly pissed off, but I definitely saw amusement there. "I'm not specialized, and I don't manipulate raw chakra often, but I am capable of doing it. I was looking for a possession jutsu before. Now that I know what to look for, I can find it."

I was gaping. Everyone knows that Kakashi can do a lot of stuff—hell, he knows over a thousand jutsus! But this was ridiculous! I can't believe he was a chakra manipulation master too! Or a potential master. Whatever. Dammit, I want to be a genius! Whine, bitch, moan.

_: He…is…just…too…COOL! HELL YEAH, YOU GO, TEACH::_

Kakashi finished sealing all of Rafu's main chakra points—the man is not a pretty sight in the buff, let me tell you. He's clearly not a ninja. I don't know how he got to be so good a manipulating chakra, but the man was scrawny like a rubber chicken. No muscles to speak of. Talk about specialized.

"We'll deal with your situation in the morning," Kakashi said, looking a bit tired. Poor guy. It must be hard being so awesome, I mean, knowing everything. Ehh…maybe I'll get him some porn as a thank-you.

"But for now," he said, reaching into a pocket. "This will have to do." He knelt in front of me and fiddled with my restraints. When he moved away, I saw a bell tied to the middle of the bar connecting my hands. Dammit! How does he move so silently when he has _bells_ in his pocket!

_: Forget the others, I want him to come after us! Heeeeellllllooooo, sensei::_

_**mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

Will Kakashi be successful at pulling Rafu's chakra away from Sakura? Will there be any negative effects? Was Rafu working alone? How did he get all of his information? Will Sakura ever get a moment of peace? Will Kiba get his bit of action? Find out in the next chapter!

So hopefully everyone has a greater appreciation for the awesomeness and the mysteriousness that is Kakashi. Damn straight. I chose the name Rafu because according to the Japanese baby name website I used, it means "net," which I thought was appropriate because he caught Sakura, and was a pervert. That, and I really had the urge to say that his name was Ralph or Bob (and make this some sort of weird humor/parody fic) but luckily Rafu sounds close to Ralph.

I realized that at the end of Inner Sakura's bits of dialogue, the colon eats her punctuation. So I get :blablabla no punctuation:. I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do about it, I've tried to work around it with no success. It took a while to find some sort of bracketing that would show up, since asterisks and carets (yes, spelled correctly, it's those arrow-y looking thingies) weren't showing up either. :Shakes a fist at FF for formatting issues that SHOULD BE RESOLVED: Dammit, there goes my exclamation point.

As always, please leave a review for the yours truly, she loves them dearly! Thanks for reading (and reviewing) and stay tuned, same Bat Time, same Bat Station.


	8. Vanilla Scented Rain

**A note on the spelling of "bestial" and its derivatives:** So I've been waiting for someone to say this and it finally happened—that it's "beastial" not "bestial." It's bestial. Type them both into your Word processors or look it up on a dictionary website or in a dictionary. It's bestial, bestiality, and bestially. All have the root of "beast." Ah, the wonders and joys of the English language. I have added an author's note to this effect in Chapter One.

AN: Wow, I had no idea chapter 7 would be so popular! I have 40 reviews! And 14 of them were for chapter 7! The rest of my stats skyrocketed too—I'm astonished by how many people suddenly stuck this on story alert, but I'm so flattered! You LIKE me, you REALLY LIKE ME! Thanks for everyone who's been reviewing, your support means a lot, and I really appreciate the fact that you take the extra minute to tell me you like it/hate it or whatever. Well, nobody's said they hate it…yet…But the feedback has been simply awesome, on all sites that I've posted on. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Plushies of your favorite shinobi for everyone!

**THIS STORY IS RATED R/M FOR LANGUAGE AND SEXUAL CONTENT. As per the FF(dot)net rules and MPAA rating guidelines (i.e. if you can see breasts in R movies, expect to see it here), all detailed below-the-belt action (i.e. NC-17 material) will be cut out and full-length lemons can be accessed at my AFF account: adultfanfiction . net / aff / authors . php? no 1296789090 (delete the spaces). That being said, THERE IS GOING TO BE SMUT IN THIS CHAPTER, YOU _HAVE_ BEEN WARNED.**

This had to be the longest AN ever.

Disclaimer: If I owned them, there would be no Kakashi, because he'd be my looooooove slave.

_:blablabla: _Inner Sakura

**_mmmmmmmmm_** scene break/end of chapter

_A large block of italics is a flashback. For AFF(dot)net readers, look for begin/end flashback notes in parantheses to separate the flashback, since I have no idea how to preserve my italicized and bolded letters when I upload there._

Soundtrack: Fall to Fragments, Android Lust; album: The Dividing (although I listened to the album the entire time writing this, I began with this track, and oddly enough, ended with it too)

**Chapter Eight**

So here I am, topless and in my underwear again, kneeling on the ground. Kakashi was going to fix my chakra for me.

_:Oh yeah! Touch me baby, touch me:_

It was difficult, but I managed to keep a straight face through the running string of fangirl musings from the entity formerly known as the Inner Me. After inking out more symbols that I vaguely recognized, Kakashi put his hand on my seal and removed it. Hinata had refreshed the sleep jutsu on the crazy masochistic chakra master—I mean Rafu, of course—and I was ready to be freed from the oppression of his chakra. Leaving his hand on my chest, Kakashi sent a pulse of chakra into me—oh, I actually felt it! He described what he was going to do, which sounded awfully similar to a medical trance to me, but I didn't think that I would be able to feel it since my chakra senses had, for all intents and purposes, died. I felt each tiny path of my chakra circulation system become active and purified as Kakashi sent his chakra through my system, removing Rafu's and leaving mine sparkling clean. When it was over, the sun was high in the sky and Kakashi pulled a massive ball of chakra out of my chest that tried to stick to me like raw dough.

Then he smashed the chakra into a tree, Raikiri-style, and told me to try a jutsu. The man wasn't even panting, and I sent an admiring glance over his fine body—I mean I checked him over to make sure that he hadn't strained himself! Eh heh heh heh… In all seriousness though, I definitely had a new appreciation for Kakashi; well, that's what I told myself as I tried a water jutsu and water came from my fingertips.

Hinata left with Akamaru to go heal the villagers—Akamaru was to be her guard as he could easily alert Kiba and Kakashi in case anything happened to Hinata. Kakashi told me I was to stay with Kiba.

"What? Why Kiba!" I screeched. Kakashi didn't make a reply, only raised one infuriating eyebrow. Dammit, he _knew _that Kiba would just try to jump on me at the first chance.

_:Damn I sure hope so.: _

Idiots. I was surrounded by idiots and fools. I threw my hands up, muttering angrily to myself as I followed Kiba to examine the area that Rafu led me to while Kakashi apparently was going to guard the prisoner. Yeah, right, if by "guard" you mean: "read porn and jerk off all day."

_:He doesn't need to read porn, I'd help him with that any day. HELL YEAH:_

Kiba jumped to the ground and I followed, looking around. I hadn't realized how quickly I had been moving. The clearing—it was really more of a blank space in the middle of a lot of trees—was actually a fairly good distance away from camp, although it didn't take long to get to, especially moving at ninja speed. Kiba immediately began sniffing around—I actually had never seen him do tracking before without Akamaru. He'd walk a few steps, sniff the air in various directions, and would go running off in a direction. After the third time that I nearly crashed into his back, I snapped.

"Do you think—mmf!"

Kiba clapped a hand to my mouth, and pushed me into the shadow of a tree. He lowered his mouth to my ear, his voice barely louder than a breath.

"I've caught the scents of two others. Stay quiet." He removed his hand from my mouth.

"At least give me a signal when you're going to stop," I whispered, not as angry as I had been. I stretched my senses a bit, but I couldn't feel any other chakra signatures. My chakra, however, was not at its most reliable.

"The scents…they're distracting," he gritted out. Distracted? He's not supposed to be distracted. He's one of our best shinobi at tracking. I've worked with him before tracking wounded or captured Leaf nin, and he's always intensely focused—and he gives hand symbols to warn you when he's stopping. But he looked like they were really bothering him.

I sniffed the air experimentally, not thinking I could actually smell anything, but willing to try to identify what it was that was distracting him.

It was faint, very faint, but I could smell it. Vanilla. I looked around and saw a vanilla flower and its fruits. Odd, though, because it isn't native to the Fire Country. A few trees farther in, though, I saw another flower. I looked behind us, and sure enough, there was yet another. I was positive it hadn't been there before. Movement caught the corner of my eye, and I looked to see a vine grow from the ground and wrap around a tree. A white flower opened, and the smell of vanilla increased in the air. A jutsu of some sort—it had to be from a Grass nin. They are experts are working with plant life.

"Are you in pain?" Maybe he was allergic or hypersensitive to it? I raised my hand to his head to see if I could diagnose the problem, but he caught my wrist in a tight grip.

"Go back to the camp," he said through clenched teeth. He looked like whatever was afflicting him was really painful. I wish I had thought to bring our headsets and microphones, but I left them in the pack; this was supposed to be a short, minor, hopefully fruitless recon stint. I thought we were going to find a firepit and Rafu's junk, and maybe be able to make fun of his underwear.

But despite my lack of foresight, I would _never_ abandon my teammate! If he thought that I would just leave him here, he had another thought coming.

"If I create an air bubble around your head will that help?" I've used one before for things involving extensive diving. Maybe he couldn't use chakra right now? If he would just let me get close enough to figure out what the problem was—

"Sakura, listen to what I'm saying. It isn't safe for you to be near me when I can smell this."

"Kiba, that's ridiculous. I'll just use a jutsu for rain and the smell will be gone." He seized both of my wrists, but I pushed him away and in a matter of seconds, rain was falling down on us, and the smell lessened. I applied a fire jutsu to my hands and quickly began placing my hands on the vanilla flowers I saw before they got too wet, burning them to a crisp. Burnt vanilla? It smells awful.

"It's too late for that," Kiba growled. I think _someone_ doesn't like getting wet.

"Yes, well at least I don't see any more vanilla flowers. Do you smell it still?" I lowered my voice. "Do you sense anyone?" I didn't, but just because I couldn't sense anything didn't mean that that was the case. I looked around, still on the alert in case any other abnormal plant life sprang into view.

"Of course I can smell the flowers. All I can smell is the damn vanilla," Kiba growled. He was quiet and looked around. "But I don't sense anyone. Now it's time for you to go back to camp."

"You mean it's time for _us_ to­­—what the—Kiba!" I turned as I spoke and was distracted by the sight of fangs and claws.

"I thought you said you didn't sense anyone." I looked around, a bit disturbed, slightly fearful. The worse thing, in my opinion, is when you know your abilities are not at one hundred percent, and you have to be dependent on someone else's ability to sense the opponent. It's like being blind and deaf at the same time. I could feel my heart begin to beat a little faster, could feel my muscles tense and ready to move me at a moment's notice.

"I don't sense anyone," he growled. "It's the vanilla. It's an aphrodisiac that animals, and ninjas with an enhanced sense of smell, are extremely sensitive to. That and _your_ damned scent, woman, is making me lose control! Now go back to camp!" That came out as a roar.

I froze and stared at him. Oh. Vanilla. Aphrodisiac. I'd heard of that—but it wasn't proven, and it's just a scent, it's not a jutsu or a drug. But of course _I _have to be paired with the ninja who has the ridiculously sensitive sense of smell. Ugh. I get the sneaking suspicion that someone up there is laughing their ass off at me. A crack made me focus outward again, and I saw Kiba take a step towards me. Now I knew how deer felt. I looked in his eyes—they were wild. I took a slow step to the side. Maybe…step…I'll…step…listen to Kiba next time. I took off at a run and I heard Kiba howl and take after me.

_:He's going to eat us::_

I enhanced my speed with some chakra to my legs and continued to run. Okay, okay, bestiality. If I reverted to some sort of animalistic mentality, what would I be thinking? I'm aroused, so I want sex; I can smell a potential mate, so I want sex with her; she's running away, so I must catch her. And then to add to that my adrenaline was going, and I knew that I smelled of fear. I was probably arousing all of his predator instincts as well by acting like prey. I had to stop being afraid. I tried to even my breathing, tried to find a rhythm in my running, but then Kiba popped out from a tree trunk in front of me and I shrieked and threw a punch at him as I tried to stop without crashing into him. Unfortunately, the slickness from my rain jutsu and my speed made that virtually impossible. I would have fallen straight into him except that he dodged my punch and I moved chakra to my feet to stop myself.

_:Get a hold of yourself, woman, are you a kunoichi or not:_

I felt his arm come near my waist and I ducked, trying to kick his legs out from underneath him. He jumped, and disappeared from my sight. I felt around, trying to sense his chakra, but he was cloaking it. Then I began molding chakra for the one sound jutsu I knew. Kakashi had copied it from a Sound nin. I still remember how the double bang scared the crap out of me. Even Kakashi had been vaguely surprised.

"_A bang?" Kakashi said. "You planned on defeating me with a loud noise?" The normally dry tone was saturated in incredulity._

"_It surprised you," the Sound nin said, coming from behind Kakashi and succeeding in landing a kick. "That's all it needed to do."_

I figured that the loudness would surprise Kiba and his sensitive ears enough so that I could get a few minutes to come up with a better strategy. Then a hand came from behind me and grabbed my left wrist.

"Look at what I caught," Kiba purred as he nuzzled my hair near my ear.

"Yeah, you get a prize," I said somewhat sarcastically. I quickly sped through the last two symbols using my right hand—you really don't want to know how long it took me to learn to do that, and yes, of course I stole it from my memory of Haku. And I can only do it with my right hand, and for simple jutsus. It's really difficult, because using only one hand makes it easier for the chakra to get out of control. Then I focused my chakra, and it seemed for a second that all the sound had been sucked away, and we were in a vacuum. Crap, did I do it wrong? Had I turned myself deaf?

A loud monotonic noise not unlike a door slamming rang in my ears. Kiba dropped my wrist and I darted away, clapping my hand over my ears. Damn, that was loud. I think I might have damaged my hearing—wait, I can fix that. Hm, no permanent damage, but my ears are definitely ringing. I guess I owe Kiba a check-up now. Wow, I won't be using that jutsu anytime soon. I thought the volume before was because it had been two bangs, but I was definitely wrong.

I was hoping I could keep Kiba at bay long enough to get back to camp and have the effects of the vanilla wear off. But Kakashi had guard duty over the prisoner. Hm…maybe it would be better to stay over here. I'm getting kind of sick of him stepping in all of the time. I'm a big girl, I can handle it. Kiba caught up to me again, and reached out, but I aimed a kick, which he then tried to catch. It's not easy trying to fend someone off who wants to hold you, not hurt you, and who is also faster than you. And I was wasting chakra trying to be faster than him. He was still smiling—enjoying the chase. I tried using a sleeping jutsu, but used the opportunity to just grab my hands and pin them above my head—of course, my back was to a tree trunk. We _were_ after all, in a forest. There tend to be lots of handily placed trees for this sort of thing. So he won. Not that I was surprised—it was simply a matter of how long I could delay it. I should have continued with the "run away like there's no tomorrow" option. Bleh. If we had been actually sparring though, I would have given him a run for his money, let's get that straight right now.

"You owe me two prizes now," he murmured as he lowered his mouth to mine. Well, far be it from me to let an opportunity like this go to waste. Good time to think of a strategy for a distraction…or…something. Who was I kidding? I had lost, but I was finding it hard to care. As long as the virginity stayed intact it was all—ooh, that felt gooood—he was nibbling on my lower lip, and I couldn't stop myself from parting my lips for him. And then there was tongue. I was cool from the rain, and I was wet, and I felt like the fusion of our mouths was that much hotter because of the temperature contrast. His mouth tasted vaguely of mint as he expertly mingled his tongue with mine. He pulled back and flicked his tongue at the corner of my mouth, then nipped my lower lip again. I moved forward to try and kiss him, but he pulled back with a wicked smirk, and his hold on my wrists prevented me from closing the distance between our mouths. I pouted and he swooped in for another heated, intense kiss. Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that _I_ was the one who had become distracted, but Kiba's mouth on my neck made that realization go out of the window with the rest of my brain.

He wasn't rough—which I had expected him to be. Or rather, he wasn't "throw me against a wall and take me now" rough. But I was beginning to see the merits of the rough sex as Kiba's attentions began stoking a fire that he had started a week ago, and that Naruto and Shino had fanned. Oh, that was definitely a hand on my breast. When had he gotten my vest off? For that matter, when had my hands tangled themselves in his wet hair? I felt my nipple harden as he teased it through my bandeau and mesh shirt, and when he ground his hips into mine I wound a leg around his waist. He responded by cupping my butt and lifting me, which led to both of my legs tightly locked around his waist. It was reflex, I swear. Damn instincts.

I let my hands wander down to feel the strength in his broad shoulders, then let them slide down to his biceps, which were nicely flexed as his hands were still supporting the majority of my weight. I squeezed them—God, I love a man with nice arms—and moaned as responded by squeezing my ass. I didn't think that would be such a turn on—the squeezing my butt thing. But his hands were so large and warm, and my butt fit into them really well. And then he was doing this great grinding motion with his hips that was hitting me exactly in that spot that made rational thought impossible.

"Look at me, Sakura," he growled in my ear.

I cracked my eyes open to see that he was looking straight at me.

"What," I managed to say in between pants.

"Watch," and he gave me a sexy little grin before shifting so that he was using his lower body and only one hand to hold me up, then pulled my bandeau down around my waist, and pushed my mesh shirt up. He looked back up at me to make sure that I was watching, and of course, in my sexual haze I was fascinated by his movements. Then he lifted me higher, and bent his head, maintaining eye contact as his tongue slid out of his mouth and slowly circled the hardened tip of a nipple.

"Oh fuck," I gasped, arching my back, offering him my breasts so he would continue his delicious torture. I felt his hot mouth engulf my cool, rain-damp skin, and a brief nibble with his teeth that made me cry out before I felt him abruptly draw back, and I opened my eyes that I hadn't realized I closed, and began to fall because suddenly Kiba wasn't there anymore and I had no one to hold me up in the middle of the air. I saw Kiba go flying into another tree trunk and then I felt arms around me, cradling me, pulling my bandeau up and my shirt down, and putting a too-big vest over me. There was a voice speaking too, but I couldn't hear what it was saying over the roar of my blood in my ears.

I was aching, I was wanting, and I was going to kill Kakashi for interrupting our moment. Couldn't he see that I had everything under control? That my –ahem- distraction was working?

_: Yeah, if by distraction you mean impending orgasm. :_

It's not like I was going to have sex with him, or anything. And we weren't in any danger—we were too good to be caught unawares by the enemy. Although, our being taken by surprise by Kakashi really doesn't support that statement. But I bet if it _had_ been an enemy ninja, we would have known.

_:You keep telling yourself that. I'm going to go pretend I'm still having dry sex with Kiba.:_

Kakashi was still holding me and I was refusing to look at him. I seem to keep ending up in embarrassing situations on this mission that involve everyone seeing me topless. But being topless so you can be sealed and un-sealed, and being topless because you're having a wild make-out session with your teammate are two entirely different things.

_:Heh, do you suppose Kakashi would believe that we were getting a breast examination:_

Have I mentioned that I hate my life lately?

**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**

What will Kakashi have to say about this? Will Kiba kick his ass? Where are the other two ninja whose scents Kiba found? Has Sakura changed her mind about getting involved with a guy—specifically Kiba? Find out next time!

AN: Three cheers for me, I got it done in under a week! Please leave a review and/or rating (AFF) on your way out! Thank you!

AN2: A poll: I've started on Ino's story that takes place in the _Bestial _universe. Should I wait until I've finished Sakura's story to begin posting, or should I wait a few chapters, or should I begin posting as soon as I finish the first chapter? Kill two birds with one stone—give me your vote in a review!


	9. Aren't Foreign Relations Fantastic?

AN: So I will wait until after _Bestial_ is finished to begin posting other stories in this universe (and yes, there will be one for Hinata, Ino, and Tenten, I have the pairings already planned out at this point). I think that's everything I have to say, except everyone give a huge hug to Taberah Blanc, who graciously gave me lessons on HTML so I can preserve/fix my formatting at AFF (which has been fixed for all posted chapters). Also, everyone say hello to Stem, who has graciously agreed to be my beta and bring me up to scratch! –sends lots of lurve to Stem for mad editing skills-

AN2: Second of all, while I am very interested in hearing your opinions on who you'd like to see, and what interactions you like/would like to see (it gives me ideas), I can't please everyone. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is, especially for a long story. If it was a one-shot or a collection of drabbles, it would be different. Hopefully this won't drive too many of you away, but if you're waffling on whether to continue, I have more than one twist up my sleeve, and I am by no means finished torturing Sakura, nor am I finished bringing in other characters—just keep in mind that it might not be exactly how you'd like to see them (i.e. with a certain character).

Let the games begin.

Disclaimer: Finally I own something: Rafu, Manjushage, Tenseranpaseran, and Keseranpaseran. I'm going to shoot myself for choosing those names.

Do I still need to go through all my symbols?

**_Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm _**scene break/end of chapter

_:Inner Sakura:_

_Block of italics is a flashback_

**Chapter Nine**

Kakashi leapt away from Kiba, still holding me, and as soon as he landed I began to struggle.

"Put me down! What the _hell_ is your problem!" I shrieked. Kakashi was stiff and unmoving but I somehow managed to awkwardly scramble down from his arms. My wet hair was all over the place and I angrily pushed back the tangled strands that stuck to my face. I looked up at him, but he was looking straight ahead, and since he has around seven inches in height on me, his line of vision was over my head. That just made me angrier. Fisting my hand in his black shirt, I yanked his face down to my eye level so that our noses were almost touching. He continued to look through me, not at me, and I swear I saw red for a full second before controlling myself enough to be able to form words.

"What gives you the _right_ to throw him against a tree and to carry me off like a doll? I can take care of myself, and I'll have you know that I was handling the situation just fine. I'm not a little girl in need of protection anymore, Kakashi, and just because I'm a virgin doesn't mean I'm entirely innocent, either," I growled at him. I thought I saw his eye—the dark grey one—flash red for a second, and I wondered if maybe it _wasn't_ Kakashi that I was dealing with, that it was one of the Grass ninja Kiba had smelled instead.

Kakashi continued to remain silent as he straightened up; slightly intimidated, I allowed his shirt to slip from my grasp. He finally looked down at me, but his face was completely blank; I had no idea what he was thinking.

"Go join Hinata and finish healing the villagers," was all he said before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. I just stood there dumbly, in his vest that was too big for my frame. Oh, that is _so_ like him! Infuriated, I let out a combination growl/shriek, punched the nearest tree (obliterating it into matchsticks), and in a similar puff of smoke, left for the village.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

It was late when Hinata and I stumbled back to camp, Akamaru at our sides, but we were at long last finished with the actual healing of the villagers. Now it was just a matter of keeping them hydrated, warm and letting them rest, a task our clones could do easily. I gratefully accepted a bowl of whatever it was we were having for dinner from Kiba—it looked like ramen—peeled off Kakashi's now dry vest, tossed it to him, and sat on my sleeping bag and began to eat, dimly registering that my vest was next to me.

"Report," Kakashi ordered, catching his vest and putting it back on.

"We finished healing them," Hinata said after slurping her noodles. She shoved in another mouthful and I took over.

"Clones can monitor their recovery," and I took another bite.

"It's just a matter of resting and gaining back their strength," Hinata said. Food tastes so good when you're hungry. I swear, we both looked like Naruto at Ichiraku if he had starved for four days.

"Ah," was all that Kakashi said. I stood up and grabbed another bowlful of ramen, then sat back down. Kiba was studiously avoiding my gaze—was he embarrassed about getting caught? Heh, probably. I bet Kakashi gave him a dressing down too. I took the time to glare at Kakashi, but he serenely continued to read his porn. Granted, I know that it's against the rules—well it's not actually a rule, but it's frowned upon—to engage in unnecessary sexual activity with another ninja while on a mission, but really, under the circumstances we're hardly to blame. Well, at least I'm hardly to blame. I was an innocent bystander…of sorts…completely victimized by a possessed Kiba. I don't have a leg to stand on. Bla, now I just made myself feel guilty. And I had such a great righteous anger thing going, too.

"Sakura, you take first watch, then wake me up," Kakashi said. Drat. I guess Hinata gets last watch then—oh well, at least I get uninterrupted sleep, always a good thing. Somehow I don't think that anything is going to happen tonight.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

Luckily for me, my watch was uneventful. Feeling refreshed, I woke up and happily accepted breakfast from Hinata, then walked over a nearby stream to do my morning ablutions. When I returned, Kakashi outlined the plans for the day. Because the Grass-nins (we felt reasonably sure they were from Grass) set the trap yesterday, it was safe to assume that they knew about all of our abilities. Kiba was proven to be a weak link in this area because of his nose (there are hundreds of plants that apparently can affect him), so he would remain at camp and guard Rafu with Akamaru while the rest of us searched for traces of the nins.

At first glance, Hinata saw a massive amount of chakra lines crisscrossing the forest. I was pretty sure that if we crossed them more traps would be sprung, so we tried different ways of disarming the traps, with a lot of not-so-fun results. We first tried to sever the lines—that led to a man-eating Venus flytrap-type plant springing up. And we quickly discovered that absorbing the chakra at another spot led to huge crushing vines that reminded me of an anaconda. Exasperated, I purposely walked through a line, and was almost stabbed by these strange sharp stick-like plants. Kakashi gave me a look when I did that one. It was one of those "what the hell do you think you're doing" looks that make him look unbearably superior, and make my fist twitch to punch him. After all of our failed attempts, the three of us decided to send wave after wave of clones to get demolished by the traps while we followed and destroyed the plants. This, of course, devoured our chakra at an alarming rate, but we didn't want to fight today. We just wanted to gather information.

Finally, at midday we reached their campsite. It looked like it had been used last night, so it was reasonable to assume that the trap Kiba and I had set off yesterday was meant to keep us out or drive us away.

"I can smell our prisoner here, but it's very faint," Kakashi said, as he bit his thumb and summoned Pakkun. He held a piece of cloth for Pakkun to smell.

"Tell me what you can detect," he said. Pakkun walked around sniffing at various things while Hinata and I were on the lookout for the Grass-nins.

"That one that you carried, I can smell him here, but the trail two days old. There are two—no, three others. Two are very similar, they're related—twins, possibly Those are about a day old, maybe a day and a half. And I can smell a lot of chakra—one of them is a chakra manipulation master, and he doesn't use any hand signals." _Or he doesn't know any_, I thought to myself.

Kakashi nodded and Pakkun poofed out of existence just as a vine slithered towards my ankle. I hurriedly leapt out of the way and threw a shuriken at it, successfully pinning it to the ground.

The three of us into a formation that forced our backs to each other as more of the vines crawled out from various directions. I grabbed one of the creepers and sent a lightning jutsu up it, assuming that it might be attached to the ninja, then finished it off with a weak fire jutsu. In my peripheral vision I saw Hinata, Byakugan activated, dash into the brush. Kakashi was directly behind me so I wasn't sure what he was doing, but I'm sure it was appropriately spiffy. Two more vines shot out towards me and I dodged them, using another fire jutsu to obliterate them as well. It's a good thing I'm from the Fire Country, where fire jutsus are obviously in abundance—water and earth, my other two strongest elements (in jutsus, at any rate) aren't exceptionally useful against plants. At least, not when a Grass-nin is controlling them.

Hm…a plan, a plan. The light of an idea flashed in my head. I grabbed onto the next vine that shot towards me, and, clutching it, followed it back to where it was rooted in the ground. No sign of a Grass-nin anywhere. A grin of unholy glee crossed my face as I vigorously punched the ground, and, sure enough, there he was, the little rat bastard who thought he could hide from me. Without missing a beat, I grabbed him and threw him into a nearby tree, using my chakra-enhanced limbs to make it feel twice as good. Seeing that he was sufficiently stunned, I threw him back towards the campsite.

"Incoming!" I yelled, then displaced back to the campsite. Good thing, too, I was starting to run low on chakra. I poofed in and saw Kakashi holding another Grass-nin a foot off the ground with one hand fisted in his vest. Hinata was sitting next to hers detainee, who was unconscious. I could see from the small bruises on his forearms that she had closed off his chakra pathways.

"I swear, it's the truth!" Kakashi's captive babbled. "The mission scroll is in my left pocket!"

Kakashi pulled it out and slowly let him down while keeping ninja in sight. He opened the scroll and read it. What was going on?

"I see," he said.

"See what?" I asked.

"They're after our man too," Kakashi said. The Grass-nin he had been holding bowed to us.

"Please accept my most humble apologies, we thought you were working with him," he said formally. Oh crap!

"No, no, please accept mine," I said hastily as I returned the bow. "And I would be honored if you would allow me to heal your injuries." Shoot, what are their customs again? I tend to get Rain and Grass confused—they both have formal cultures that are somewhat similar.

Kakashi looked amused. "You may join us at our camp," he said, as he shouldered Hinata's unconscious former opponent and began heading back towards camp. I darted after him when I saw the supposed leader (the ninja Kakashi had taken on) help his comrade (my former opponent) up.

"Kakashi," I hissed at him. "Are you sure it was a real scroll?"

He glanced at me. "Yes. It was signed by the Shokubutsukage, with a chakra seal. It's impossible to fake them, as you should know." All jounin are trained to recognize the chakra signature seals (it's exactly like signing one's name but using chakra instead of ink) of the Kages—so we can avoid mishaps like the one that just happened, and avoid Hidden Village War II.

So much for an epic battle. But truthfully, I was relieved. My skills, as great as they are, really aren't ideal to go up against a Grass-nin. My ideal opponent is someone who's skilled in taijutsu, allowing me use (or abuse, depending on how you look at it) medical ninjutsu to disable them—or someone whose skills are comparable to a Mist-nin's. Mist-nins can be counted on to use water in some way, shape or form. Fire is a great counter for this if you don't have a Sharingan eye and have the skill level or power to back up your attack. But it is the ninja who manipulate things that are harder to beat. Summoners, Grass-nin, Sound-nin, and genjutsu specialists are my least favorite people to go up against—their talents or specialties don't really have an opposites like: earth against air and lightning, water against fire and earth, fire against water and ice, and so on.

As we walked, I dropped to take the rear and analyze the two conscious Grass-nin. They wore the usual Grass jounin uniform—which, coincidentally looked a lot like Konoha's except for the coloring—dark green pants, dark green shirt, and a light green vest. Their vest was a bit different from ours in the sense that it had a mandarin collar and frog closures rather than a zipper. It also had fewer pockets, but that pants made up for that in abundance. That's interesting, I like that idea—a superficial concern, I know, but it's nice to be able to kick ass and look feminine too. On the other hand, my thick vest provides extra padding for any sharp pointy objects that come my way. Still…the scroll pockets in the chest area _do_ go a long way towards androgenizing the women. That's why none of us wear the full uniform outside of a mission. Well, that and because we like to wear more than one outfit.

I couldn't detect any malicious intent from the nins so I turned my attention outwards. Before I knew it, we were back at camp, and I was tending to the man I had been fighting, Keseranpaseran. He was handsome, I suppose—but when compared to the rugged good looks of Kiba or the polished appearance of Shino, he had some tough competition. His hair was beautiful though; down to his waist, and a dark shade of green that appeared to be black unless the sun hit it a certain way. His skin was tan, just like that coffee ice cream Ino loves. Tenseranpaseran, his twin who Hinata had incapacitated, possessed hair that only brushed his shoulders, along with some shorter strands in front. Their eyes were a beautiful pale blue—almost grey, they were the color of the pasqueflower; the lightness was even more enhanced by their skin tone. Manjushage (the scroll-holder and apparent leader), had deep purple locks and yellow eyes—not amber, but a brilliant shade of yellow found in sunflowers. His skin—almost more intriguing than his eyes—was so pale that it almost looked like it was green—no, wait, it _was_ a pale green. They were undoubtedly the most exotic-looking ninja I'd ever seen, except for Mist-nins, but these appearances were far superior: Mist-nins aren't always attractive, they're just scary. In my experience, they tend to look like sharks and other carnivorous aquatic life…although I _have_ seen a handful of alluring Mist-nins. Maybe I should aim for missions taking me to Grass more often.

_:After all, we're neighbors, we should get to know each other better. :_

After we healed them, the Grass team insisted on cooking the noon meal. It was a vegetarian feast—I have no idea what herbs or vegetables they used, or if they even exist in Konoha, but it was scrumptious.

"Can everyone in Grass cook this well?" I inquired, trying to remain formal—which I was beyond rusty at, I don't think I had practiced this sort of thing since our diplomacy classes!

"Oh, you are too kind, but really, this is nothing," Tenseranpaseran waved off my compliment.

"Yes, if we had a proper kitchen and ingredients, then you would really be able to say you had Grass cuisine," Keseranpaseran broke in.

"Is all Grass cuisine vegetarian?" That was Hinata—she was much better at this than me, due to her upbringing.

"Most of it, yes," Manjushage replied. "Our country is so small that we use most of it for growing plants that are used to feed the people. Fortunately, we have maintained good relations with the other countries, and we are small, so it is relatively easy to hunt in the surrounding countries—if we desire, we can have a wide variety of meat."

"But the only ones who take advantage of this fact are those who live very near to the border," Tenseranpaseran said. "After eating your mother's cooking for so long, and then preparing it yourself with meat, the meal often tastes strange."

"Yes, I'm not fond of it—not in Grass cuisine," Manjushage finished. Hinata and I nodded understanding. We shared a look and stood up.

"We must check on the villagers," I said. I dispelled my clones and felt a portion of my chakra return. If something had gone wrong with the villagers, a clone (one of mine or Hinata's) would have come after us. Since our clones would be dispelled anyway when we went to sleep, we might as well dispel them now—we'd need the chakra in order to check on the villagers.

"Please excuse us," Hinata bowed, and I did the same, before we both relocated to the village center with a jutsu.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

"So, Hinata," I purred with a sly look as we walked towards the campsite. "Which Grass-nin do you think is the most attractive?"

"Sakura!" She cried, blushing. "I don't believe it! You shouldn't be thinking of things like that on a mission!"

I raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Oh please, I know you have eyes in your head, and I saw you eyeing them while you were eating. There's nothing in the rules that says we can't appreciate what Nature obviously intended us to look at."

_:And if Nature says worship, I say, hell yeah::_

"Manjushage is beautifully exotic," I sighed, and saw her nod at the corner of my eye, still blushing—oh, wait, her ears just turned pink. "And the twins are gorgeous." Her blush deepened.

"Aha! It's the twins," I said, smiling at her. "Which one? Tenseranpaseran? Or Keseranpaseran? Or…is it both?" She covered her face in her hands, scarlet all over, including the ears.

"Hinata!" I squealed. "You dirty girl! Are you serious? _Both_ of them?" The idea hadn't really occurred to me before, I had only been teasing, but I was seeing the merits of it. Talk about adventurous. I got a mental image of a Sakura sandwich and flushed. It would solve the so-many-men-so-little-time problem I was having, that's for damn sure. Then I imagined Kiba and Naruto surrounding me and the blood rushed to my cheeks again. That's something to save for the shower.

_:Oh man, a threesome in the shower? Sign me up::_

"Well," she mumbled through her hands. "I'm always so indecisive…why should I have to choose?" I stared at her for a moment, surprised, before I burst into hysterical laughter and paused to rest against a tree.

"Oh Hinata, you have _got_ to speak up more often. That was priceless. Seriously, though, you want to be in a threesome? Have you even been with someone yet?"

She sat against the tree and fanned her crimson face. "Well…uh…no…I haven't…you know. And…um…well…the thought of one person's attention entirely on me…it t-terrifies me, Sakura. I've always been behind corners, in the shadows…To suddenly be the focus of one p-person make me want to curl up and hide." She paused, gathering her thoughts—and her courage, she didn't open up this much very often, if at all. "If someone else was there, then a-all of their attention wouldn't be on me, right?"

I thought on this. "Well, that, or you would have _two_ people's attention focused entirely on you." She looked like she was about to collapse from that statement, but after collecting herself, shook her head.

"No," she said with an impish look on her face that clashed with the ever-present blush, "because they would have to pay attention to where the other person's body parts are."

"Hinata!" I blushed and started laughing again. She has _always_ been full of surprises.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

What do the Grass ninja want Rafu for? How much longer will the Grass-nin stick around for? What do Kiba and Kakashi think of these beautiful men? When will the team return to Konoha, and what awaits them there? Find out in the next chapter!

AN: If someone wants to illustrate this story/draw images inspired by it (I've gotten one offer from Ziri), please let me know so I can direct people to your awesome artwork and stick links everywhere and give you lots of lurve! –looks around hopefully for a "Kiba and Sakura going at it in the rain" pic-

**If you're interested in the Japanese names used in this chapter/other explanations of things, read below:**

**Shokubutsukage: **"Plant Shadow" (ostensibly the strongest ninja in Grass—who hasn't been given a name in the series because Grass isn't one of the 5 major villages);shokubutsu "plant, vegetation" in Japanese. It was either that or puranto, which means plant, but my dictionary didn't say what kind of plant. That and it's clearly Japanified English, which I'd like to avoid, if possible. Unless it's Rafu. Or Bob.

**Manjushage:** "red spider-lily, cluster belladonna, cluster amaryllis, manjusaka." I chose it because I gave this Grass-nin the coloring of belladonna (well, North American belladonna is yellow and purple, not sure about Japanese), and my handy dictionary gave me this meaning. This is not the name of a person, but most plant/flower names in Japanese are female (if they're names for people), and I thought Grass-nins should have plant-oriented names.

**Keseranpaseran and Tenseranpaseran:** Not Japanese names per se; both mean (according to the Japanese/English dictionary I used): "flock from a vine-seed weed, used for face powder, believed to promote desire and happiness." I used them because I gave Keseranpaseran some funky vine-manipulation powers when he was fighting Sakura, and I was looking for a name (any name, a person-name or a plant-name) that had to do with vines, and since they were twins I thought it was handy that I found two that meant the same thing…according to this online dictionary anyway.

**On Sakura's elemental strengths**: I made Sakura strong at fire jutsus because a) she's from the Fire Country, b) she's an Aries (a fire sign—born March 28), and c) her hair is pink (a derivative of red, which is a color in Wicca stuff for fire). I made Sakura strong at earth jutsus because her eyes are green (color for earth), and water jutsus because some zodiac ideologists believe that Pluto may also be a strong presence/ruler for Aries (in addition to Mars), and Pluto is associated with a water sign (see Scorpio). Various Wicca and astrology sites were used for this. Also, I gave Sakura a few lightning jutsus because her hair is pink—a mix of red and white, and I used white as a color for lightning (my own invention). The end.


	10. Decisions, Decisions

AN: Okay, so I suck, because I've had the beta'd chapter for approximately a week and I haven't done anything with it…:hangs head in shame: BUT! It's not my fault, blame school. Thank every deity ever that this is my last semester. So, due to the fact that I have work and papers and chemistry coming out of my ass, I'm instituting a new update schedule. It's called: give Iris a week and a half to write, Stem a week to beta, and Iris another couple of days to get off her duff and fix the chapter. But thank you so much for all of your feedback, it's awesome! Keep it coming! Also, thanks to Stem for being an amazing beta!

AN2: Ziri did an illustration! How awesome is that! Anyway, the link is available on my profile, and on my LJ (livejournal—click on my homepage link on my profile), and I will also put it here:

http/ www (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) view (slash) 28017034/

Check it out because it's a great pic.

**A reminder for those who want to keep the OCs straight (including myself):**

Rafu: chakra manipulation master; tried to control Sakura by melding their chakra; evil

pervert

Keseranpaseran: one of the Grass nin twins; long (waist-length) dark green, almost black

hair, pale blue eyes, tan skin; fought against Sakura using vines

Tenseranpaseran: one of the Grass nin twins; shoulder-length hair with layers in the front;

same coloring as Keseranpaseran; fought against Hinata and had his chakra pathways blocked

Manjushage: leader of the Grass nin team; yellow eyes, pale green skin, deep purple hair

(length currently unknown); was manhandled by Kakashi

Disclaimer: I own the crazy pervert and the nins with ridiculously long names. I'm not proud of this. Next time I'm naming them all Bob. Bob 1 and Bob 2, and Bob the Leader.

_:Inner Sakura:_

_block of italics is a flashback_

**LEMON-LIME WARNING! I have cut out part of this chapter in order to be compliant with FF (dot) net rules. For smut lovers, you can find this story at my AFF account—link is below and at my LJ. For those of you on LJ, do you want me to post my fic there as well?**

**http/ www (dot) adultfanfiction (dot) net (/) aff (/) authors (dot) php? no1296789090**

**Chapter Ten**

After a tediously long and formal discussion with the Grass nins, we discovered that they were after Rafu for killing three young women. These women were all Grass nin—two were highly experienced chuunin, and the other was a specialized jounin. Based on this information, and what Rafu had told me, our combined mental power determined that he had been trying to find a mate. However, when he tried to control them by merging his chakra with theirs as he had done with mine, it had killed them. Witnesses to two of the girls' deaths reported seeing a blob of chakra, and thought it was some sort of long-range ninjutsu. The other girl—the first of his victims—died without witnesses. It made me shudder; that could have been my fate. I hadn't realized how close to death I had come.

The most likely reason I survived the chakra merge was because I was stronger, and more powerful than the other girls. Kakashi said as much, confirming my private musings. I am, after all, a jounin—not a specialized one, although I am referred to as a medic-nin, and I know more than enough medical ninjutsu to be classified as such. However I am only termed as one because that is the function that I usually play on and off missions (I'm primarily placed in teams in order to fulfill the medic-nin requirement). My skills in other ninja areas—genjutsu, taijutsu, non-medical ninjutsu—is more than good enough to qualify my status as a jounin. And I admit that I may lack the preternaturally immense chakra reserves of Naruto, but my control is phenomenal, and my stamina is above average. Combine that with my amazing memorization capabilities and you have the makings of a strong ninja—and a well-rounded jounin. That is what theoretically (and in all probability _did)_ save me from death.

Nobody in Grass is able to tell if someone has matured; their powers are all plant- and earth-based, with some water in the mixture. They lack the keen sense of smell Shino and other have that allows them to detect a change in scent, and while they are very much in tune with the chakra system of a plant (how else would they control the plant and make it grow so quickly from nothing?), they are not as cognizant of the human chakra system. I think that's why Rafu decided to go after them first—unclaimed, mature kunoichi with no threat from other potential mates. Even better, it increased the difficulty in determining his motive; they originally thought they were under attack by an enemy of Grass. But then Rafu must have come to the same conclusion—that their kunoichi weren't strong enough to handle his chakra It was then that he came up with his plan lure someone who could withstand the process—that is to say, someone like me. Rafu, because he also lacks a highly sensitive nose, is unable to determine if he is compatible with that person; unlike Shino, Kiba, Naruto, and Kakashi, he can't smell the pheromones and realize that he is or isn't attracted to (or compatible with) them. As Hinata told me, the scent determines the compatibility: if they are attracted to the scent, then they are compatible, otherwise, they are not. So, by trial and error, Rafu eventually found me.

Silence fell after we shared information and digested the conclusions we had come to. The Grass-nins appeared to be deep in thought, their faces blank, their eyes turned inward. Then Manjushage stood up, and facing a tree, began to sway slowly from side to side, his arms held slightly away from his sides. I could hear him hissing, a gentle sibilant "s" that was the product of the tiniest amount of air escaping between his teeth. The hissing slowly changed to a shushing sound, and I felt a breeze slowly intensify, circling around us, whipping Manjushage's hip-length hair around his body. The leaves on the trees rustled, and under the cover of the soft crackling his "Shhhh" sound traveled up and down in tone, as though he were speaking or singing, but only using one phoneme. His whispering faded away and the breeze stopped circling, and, gathering itself, departed as leisurely as it came. Manjushage then sat, serenely facing us.

"The trees will bear our news to the Shokubutsukage, and he will decide what must be done."

"Ah," Kakashi replied. _Right_, I thought mentally smacking my head, _of course_. I use trees all the time to communicate. The nonplussed expressions on Kiba and Hinata's faces, which I'm sure mirrored my own, made me feel better about my confused surprise.

I was impressed—I didn't know they could actually _communicate_ with plants. Most of us had heard a rumor to that effect, but there were also rumors that some of the more Shark-like Mist-nins ate children, and that Kakashi was homosexual. Well, the former might be true, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Kisame show up gnawing on a human bone. I refused to consider the second.

It's a pity they come from such a structured and formal culture—I'd love to ask them invasive questions about plant communication—like whether it is used by all Grass-nin or a select few, and if so, was it a bloodline limit or similar to one. I'm sure that more than a handful of the population was related to one another, and consequently bloodline limits may very well be a common gene.

"If you would permit us to do so, we would consider it a privilege to take the first and third watches," Majushage stood and bowed. First and third? A smart—and diplomatic choice. Although our countries were allies on paper, ninja weren't inclined to instantaneous trust. By choosing staggered watches, it prevented them from attempting something nefarious while we were sleeping—if anyone actually _would_ be sleeping (since we're suspicious and all). There were more of us in the Leaf team, so we would have at least two of us with consecutive watches—this showed that they were willing to trust us, thus making it our responsibility to keep the peace.

Kakashi paused, thinking it over, and nodded. I didn't even see them twitch, but vines and branches grew out of the ground and from the trunks of the surrounding trees, and began twisting at an alarming rate. To my credit, I only flinched a little bit in surprise. Within minutes, there were seven hammock-bed-type concoctions in a circle around the campfire. Spiffy. This was almost as good as going on missions with Yamato and sleeping in a house.

Now there are usually four two-hour watches, but a brief dialogue broke it up into five watches, one for each man, while Hinata and I were ordered to get some rest and restore our chakra. That happened to be one of my hot buttons, unfortunately.

"I'm sorry, are you implying that I am unable to be a fully-functioning member of this team?" My eyebrow twitched and it was only through an iron grip on my self-control that my voice remained level.

"You and Hinata have been using your chakra more than the rest of us, and you know it," Kakashi said in a disgustingly reasonable tone of voice. "Our job is to ensure that the medic-nins remain healthy enough to heal _any and all_ injuries."

"And we already informed you that we've completed healed all of the villagers and unless you plan on getting injured, we shouldn't have a reason to use any more chakra, and therefore we don't need the rest to replenish our stores. No, you _think_ your job is to protect us because of some misguided notion of male sexism. Split it up into six—"

"Seven," Hinata broke in, looking the most irritated I've ever seen her, her arms folded and a mutinous expression on her face.

"Seven," I corrected myself, "watches."

Kakashi looked as though he was about to disagree again, so I cut him off.

"If you still feel so strongly about it, give us the first and last watches like you did last night. Then at least we will get an uninterrupted sleep. But _don't_ coddle us because we're female. You wouldn't do that for a male medic-nin."

He sighed, looking at Hinata and I, identically posed and united under the banner of feminism. I knew that sigh, and I knew victory was at hand, so I remained silent.

"Fine, fine." Calculations were redone. "Wake Kiba in 70 minutes."

Everyone retired to their tree-beds, Kiba giving his a suspicious look. I wonder if he expected the vines to strangle him in his sleep. Now that I think about it, they _did_ look a little sinister—particularly if you recalled our harrowing plant-experiences of the last couple of days. Nonetheless, a concealment illusion and a jump later, I was comfortably ensconced in a tree, blending in with my surroundings.

****I had a lot of reflecting to do—it was one of my personal reasons for asking for guard duty. Originally I thought I would wash my hands of this whole "maturity" issue and just ignore everyone who came my way, but Rafu and the episode with Kiba proved that I wasn't able to do that. And my hormones were also saying otherwise. Honestly, when I said I didn't want to get involved with anyone, I really meant that I didn't want to get into any emotional entanglements. I just wasn't ready to look for a long-term relationship. On the other hand, I really didn't want to go sleeping around with a bunch of guys either. My virginity wasn't terribly important to me, but I didn't want to go handing it off to the first guy available.

I'm not tremendously experienced in terms of dating, but I _have_ dated a few guys—one civilian, and a couple of jounin outside my circle of friends to be specific. None had lasted for more than a few months, and I'd never gone past some below-the-belt fondling. I just didn't have any sort of emotional connection to them, and the lack of one influenced my decision to end the relationship—which was great, because it completely contradicted to my desire to avoid them. The imprint of Sasuke was present here. After he left to join Orochimaru, I never gave up hope that we would find him and drag him back to our side—I wasn't completely naïve, I realized that it wouldn't be voluntary on his part. But I was convinced that he would realize that "our love" was too good to be thrown away, and that Konoha was the place to be.

I was wrong. He fought Naruto with the intent to kill, and even turned it on me when I tried to interfere—he knocked me into a wall so hard that I could have broken my back had I not used chakra to cushion myself, and sent a high-level fire jutsu at me along with a few dozen shuriken. I blocked it all with a wall of earth, then inadvertently got sucked into a battle with Kabuto. Meanwhile, Naruto doubled his efforts against Sasuke, realizing that treating him as a friend would no longer work.

We brought Sasuke back to Konoha in chains, sutras, and seals galore. I originally helped work with Shizune, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Naruto, and Kakashi to undo Orochimaru's damage, but the invective that dripped from Sasuke's mouth—the hate, the cruelty…I eventually said that I was too personally invested in him and returned to work at the hospital. When all of Orochimaru's work had been undone, they released Sasuke, but he was under ANBU guard at all times and wasn't allowed to leave the village. The first thing Sasuke did when he left the room he'd been kept in was to come to me.

That day, I had been outside of my apartment building, returning home after a long day at the hospital. Without any warning, Sasuke threw me against a wall, and told me in the coldest voice imaginable exactly how he felt about me. I was lower than the dirt beneath his shoe, and my love was false, because I had interfered with his plans. He told me I was no better than a whore, panting after the strongest and most attractive man in the village, and that I looked like one in my chuunin outfit. He asked if Naruto had enjoyed my affections. I was trembling and fighting back tears by the time he had finished, and I realized that, although he may not have been this way originally, the path he had chosen had transformed him into the cruel person before me, and I didn't see a way for him to change his personality anytime soon. I wept for the person he had been, who he could have been, if he hadn't been such an idiot. Sasuke sneered at me, and said I hadn't changed, that I was the crybaby he still remembered, and wondered if I was still burdening Kakashi and Naruto with my incompetence.

I snapped under the pressure of his cutting remarks, and punched him in the stomach—I didn't hold back, either—and sent him flying across the street into a brick wall. Then I informed him that Itachi was dead, and a look of disbelief crossed his face. He whispered Naruto's name, and I cut him off. Putting my most contemptuous look on my face, my heart breaking inside, I told him that I killed his brother, and walked away. It was true—to some extent. I was on a team with Kakashi, Naruto, and Neji, and it was four against one. If even two of those guys are on your team, you're guaranteed a win, especially if you have been researching your target for the better part of a month. But I didn't just sit on my ass, I helped a lot too, and I don't mean with my healing abilities. It was technically eight against two, because a separate four-man team had been sent out to assassinate Kisame, who was always with Itachi. With Kisame neutralized, it was easier for the four of us to pick him off—although it was still one of the hardest missions I've ever completed. With the Gentle Fist Technique, Neji forced Itachi to focus on him, and Naruto joined in with the use of his Kage Bunshins. Kakashi came at Itachi from one side with the Chidori, and Itachi had to dodge. Utilizing the distractions, I readied a jutsu on my fingertips, and, speeding by him, I removed his eyes. One of the boys dealt the killing blow while I emptied my stomach and threw those eyes as far away from me as I could. It sounds like it was easy, but we fought against him for more than three hours.

I knew it was Sasuke's goal to kill Itachi, his raison d'etre, but I helped take down Itachi because it was my mission objective, and because there was no way that Sasuke would be allowed out of the village in under a year—and I was right. Most of us, including myself, thought it should have been three years with his behavior, but Sasuke passed the chuunin exams and was going on missions within a year, all because he was THE Uchiha. He didn't speak to me again after I told him the news about Itachi, and for that I am relieved. Gossip labeled him to be colder than Neji at his coldest—icy to the point of rude, with a cruel streak that was rather wide.

Sasuke was my entire reason for being for several years, and in the space of a day he destroyed it. Maybe he was right—over the two and a half years I trained with Tsunade I stopped associating everything with Sasuke, but I never forgot that _he _was the reason I wanted to become stronger, so I could help Naruto bring him back, so that I wouldn't be a dead weight to the group. But over those years I became less effusive in my fangirl musings over Sasuke as he wasn't there for me to scream over. Ino and I grew closer because there wasn't much to say about Sasuke, except to wonder what he was doing, how he was doing. I was too strong, though, to hang onto the love of a person as brutal as Sasuke. Maybe my love _had_ lessened over the years, or turned in the platonic direction. But it didn't hurt any less to hear his rejection, his opinion of me.

I'm not afraid to get emotionally involved with someone because I'm afraid they'll turn out like Sasuke—I know that he was an extreme case. I'm just not interested in falling in love and getting hurt again. And the part about "claiming me" now that I have "matured" sounds so…permanent. I don't want anything permanent—I've hardly dated anyone! I've never even gotten to third base! Then again, maybe I could explore my options with the boys? The emotional connection was there—I knew them, and trusted them for the most part (except for Shino and his kikai, had to watch out for those, the nosy jerk). Maybe I should just go with the flow, and get to know them and spend time with them as it comes.

_:Resistance is futile.:_

That's for damn sure—I'm young, attractive (if I do say so myself), with intelligent enough to see that there are three sexy, well-built, hot, dashing—you get the idea—boys after me. And it's not like I've been doing a great job of saying "no" anyway. Well, honestly, I think we all know I don't really want to refuse them—it would just be nice to be asked for my opinion. Although, if one of them politely requested: "Sakura, may I kiss you," I'd laugh hysterically and walk away. So go with the flow it was, and if they got too fresh or too cocky, I could always punch, er, _put_ them in their place.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

An hour or so later, my guard duty was officially over and it was time to switch places. Leisurely, I stretched, and with a chakra-induced jump, I landed quietly next to Kiba's bed, reaching to wake him with a tap to the shoulder when I felt something nudge my hip. I nearly shrieked but re-thought that idea when I saw that it was just the large nose of Akamaru, who had apparently been sleeping on the ground next to Kiba's tree-bed.

"Hey there, cutie," I crooned to him in a whisper, reaching to scratch behind his ears. "We've been neglecting you lately, haven't we?"

A low chuckle had me looking over my shoulder. Kiba was sitting on the edge of his bed, watching us. He must have gotten hot while I was on watch, because one hand held his vest, dangling between his legs, leaving him only in a sleeveless mesh shirt and pants. And to my utmost delight, moonlight filtered through the trees and lit upon his form, highlighting the defined areas of his muscles.

"Ignore him, he's shameless," Kiba said in a low voice as he smoothly rose to his feet and put his vest on, but left it open as if it were an invitation. "He'll do anything for a scratch behind the ears." My eyes were riveted to that line of mesh-covered skin exposed by his vest. I wanted to do really, _really_ naughty things to that stripe of skin. Absentmindedly, my fingers withdrew from Akamaru's head; he gave my hand a lick, then turned and disappeared into the surrounding vegetation. Kiba began to follow him, his movements noiseless, but he paused next to me.

"If you're not too tired," he said slowly, "we should talk." He continued moving forward and I followed him. A few minutes later we were in a different tree, sitting on a branch, with Kiba leaning against the trunk and me with my side to him, legs dangling into the air. He was silent, and I didn't know what he wanted to talk about—I mean, I had a pretty good idea that it was about yesterday, but I wasn't sure what he wanted to say. So I kept quiet. The tension began to build, which irritated me, so I turned my head towards him, expecting him to say something. He was just looking at me, assessing me. I wondered what conclusions he was drawing.

"If you're going to apologize," I finally said, "don't. It wasn't your fault—we should have been watching for traps and we should have brought the headsets—but the fact that you lost control wasn't your fault. I know that you can't help what vanilla…and my scent…does to you. I don't blame you, so don't worry about it."

There. I mentally exhaled. That should get any angst-y nonsense out of the way. Besides, I wasn't sorry it happened at all—I had fun, because I've embraced "going with the flow."

_:I bet we would have had more fun if Kakashi hadn't butted in…the bastard.:_

"The next time I tell you to leave, just do it," he said gruffly. Oh good grief, was _that_ what this was about? Well he can take his stupid orders and shove them up his—

"Otherwise," he continued, "you may end up with a mate you don't want. That goes for any of the others too."

"Huh?" Confusion really isn't conducive to eloquence.

"Do you even understand what smelling you does to me—to the others?" Kiba exasperatedly whispered.

"Um…it makes you attracted to me?" At least, that's what I thought it did.

Kiba laughed—but it wasn't a happy laugh, it was more bitter than anything else. "God, I could kick Hatake's ass for not telling you—I could kick myself for that matter, but we thought he would take care of it."

"You know, that seems to be a recurring theme I'm hearing lately," I commented. Maybe I should have words with Kakashi. But it's not like he ever tells me (or anyone, for that matter) anything.

"Whenever I get even the slightest whiff of your particular scent, I can identify who you are, what physical condition you're in, what you were feeling when you passed by that location, who you were with, what you were eating—I get a lot of information from your scent, from anyone's scent. And once I have your scent in my mind, I will always remember it and be able to identify you by it. It's called scent marking. When a scent changes due to maturity, the same thing happens—your previous scent entry gets overridden in my mind by the new one."

"You can really get all of that information from a scent?" I knew he memorized things by smell, and that his particular talents in that area were keen, but that was…well, frankly, I found it slightly invasive.

"Depending on how old the scent is, and how familiar I am with the person or their culture, well, yeah. I can tell you ate ramen last night because I can smell a hint of the broth we used—but all I can tell you about the Grass guys is that they eat a lot of plant food." He wrinkled his nose at that. Somehow I wasn't surprised by his disdain for vegetarianism.

"But what does that have to do maturity?"

"When your scent changes, it gives a lot of information—I always known when girls are on their cycle, but when you've matured, it registers in my mind as _fertile_, and the stages of your cycle are either more fertile or less fertile. Before, I would smell it and think, oh, she's bleeding again. But now, my nose recognizes you as someone who can carry my pups."

"You mean you can smell me, and you feel that we are a compatible match," I said, remembering what Hinata told me. Wow, that sounded cold and technical.

"It goes far beyond that," he chuckled darkly. "You were closer when you said it makes me attracted to you. I recognize you as a possible mother, so I want to make you my mate—my wife. It makes me want to _give _you pups. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Maybe I was tired, but I was feeling a bit dense. "You want a family? My scent makes you want to settle dow—ah!" That was me being startled as Kiba grabbed me and hauled me into his lap.

"Do you feel it, Sakura?" He breathed into my ear. I closed my eyes and shivered from the warm air of his mouth teasing the short hairs on my neck. Feel what? I shifted and—oh…wait…was that what I think it was?

_:Well unless he's got a scroll in his pocket, I think he's happy to see us.:_

Enlightenment! The whole light bulb-idea-epiphany metaphor? It's true.

"I want to fuck you," he kissed my neck, "to mark you as mine," he nibbled my ear, "to give you children," he unzipped my vest and cupped a breast, teasing my nipple with his thumb, "to claim you so that nobody else can have you," he picked me up and moved me so that I was straddling him, and raised my shirt and bandeau up, "and to make it so that you don't want anyone else ever again." He flicked a nipple with his tongue and I heard a whimper. I'm fairly certain it came from me, but I wasn't paying a lot of attention to my surroundings or anything except him at this point.

"Your scent," he murmured against my breast, "is the most powerful aphrodisiac I've ever smelled, more than belladonna, vanilla, or lakshmana. All I can think about when I'm around you is how badly I want you. Two aphrodisiacs were too much for me. _That_ is why I lost control yesterday." He turned his full attention to my breasts, and I encouraged him, holding his head to my breasts, stroking his back, his arms (which were enfolded around me). He repositioned his hands to my hips and moved them, starting a gyrating motion that I picked up once I realized the benefits of doing so—considering where I was sitting, and the placement of certain parts, the benefits were very, very good.

"And now?" I gasped. I had a question, but it's not like we needed to stop or anything for him to answer it—answers at a later time would be fine.

"Now what?" he growled at me. I had decided that, as much as I liked what he was doing, I wanted to return the favor, and was pushing off his vest. Remember that open invitation I mentioned earlier? Well now seemed like the time to take him up on it. His vest came off easily, as did the mesh shirt. I paused to admire his chiseled physique.

_:I think Christmas came early.:_

Yeah, no kidding. I bent down to start at his neck—when in doubt, start at the beginning, that's what I always say. I lightly bit down on the tendon on the side of his neck, and he growled against my skin and nipped the underside of my breast. That started a chain reaction of events that led to my clothes, except for my underwear, mysteriously disappearing. Something was bothering me at the back of my mind again—oh, that stupid question.

"Did you lose control again?" I tore my mouth away from his to ask before I forgot. I'd hate to interrupt something even _more_ fun to ask this inane question.

He gave me a sinful grin—well, _I_ thought it was sinful, it was certainly giving me some pretty _sinful_ ideas—before capturing my lips in another kiss as one of his hands traveled, skimming down my stomach to—oh! Do that again!

"No," he said as he moved his lips to my new favorite place in my anatomy—my breasts.

"No!" I cried. He was going to stop! That was unacceptable. After a couple seconds had passed, I became a bit confused as to why he was continuing, but far be it from me to discourage him. His hand was magical, because every time he touched me through my lace underwear I was seeing sparks.

"I haven't lost control. I'm doing this because I want to," he clarified, before ripping my underwear off.

"Oh," I moaned as his hand resumed its ministrations.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

I slumped onto Kiba and he held me with one arm, then wrapped his other arm around me.

"Good," I mumbled into his neck. I could practically taste his smirk. However, his, ahem, "problem" was making itself known under me. I ran a hand down his chest toward his pants—I have absolutely no problem with giving. And I admit it, I'm curious about what he's hiding under there. But Kiba placed his hand on mine, stopping me. I leaned back and looked at him—not especially embarrassed about being nude, he's already seen nearly everything.

"That was for you," he said.

"So generous," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Consider it payment of a debt," he said, leaning in to graze his lips against mine. "From yesterday."

Ohhhhh, _that_ debt—the impending orgasm that Kakashi so rudely disrupted. Well, far be it from me to complain.

"I want my clothes," I pointed to the ground where I could see my pants.

"But you look so good this way," he grinned at me, and ducking my swat, shifted me off of his lap and leapt down to retrieve my clothing. After I was covered—minus the underwear, which Kiba swore he couldn't find (I didn't believe him, but that it didn't matter, since they were ripped anyway)—I felt a bit awkward. I wasn't sure what to say or do or if this meant anything to him or the claiming process.

"Um…this…eeehhh…" I said. Eloquence is just not happening tonight. "You didn't claim me, did you?" I blurted out.

"No," he looked a little confused, which was really rather adorable. "Did you want me to?"

"Well…no…but what happens during it?" Finally, my sex questions get to be answered!

"There's a short period of dating," he slyly smiled. "The more old-fashioned clans call it courting, others," his smile deepened, "call it persuading." Gee, I wonder which he was.

"And that's what you're doing now." Call me Queen of the Obvious.

"Yes."

"To make me see that you're the best choice for me."

"Of course," he winked at me. "Then there's the claiming, followed by the marking, and if the claimed one wants it, a formal wedding ceremony."

"So…the claiming…does it involve sex?"

"It can, but it doesn't have to. Usually the matured person is given proof of the other person's protection and power. Think of it as handfasting, or an engagement. I would give you a nin-dog—well, I would let a nin-dog choose you."

"Ah." Elucidation, at last…and it was almost anti-climatic. I thought the claiming was going to be hot, steamy sex.

_:Dammit.:_

Oh no, what if that means I have to become a bug-person like Shino? I refuse! No bugs, ever. Especially not under my skin—or in my hair!

_:NOT THE HAIR! Never, ever, under any circumstances! I'll kill him first! I'll commit seppuku on the grounds that our ancestors would disown me if we became bug-people! I'D disown you if we became bug-people.:_

I felt a minor panic attack coming on, but forced myself to calm down.

"The marking?" I got out.

"It depends on the person—it's usually a bite, at least that's how my clan does it since we have these," he gestured to his fangs. "Break the skin, imbue it with a little chakra so it scars—like a seal, but benign." I had this awful image of Orochimaru marking Sasuke, and decided I didn't even want to explore that path of thought.

"Are you sure it's benign?" Seals are a serious business.

"It's only a little bit of chakra—just a scratch that is scabbed over with chakra." It sounded awfully iffy to me.

"Doesn't it hurt?" Foreign chakra entering the body that isn't wielded by a medic or someone who knows what they're doing tends to burn—a little if they have a friendly intent, a lot if they're trying to kill you.

His fiendish grin returned. "You'll be distracted by that time, you won't notice it at all."

"That's what you think," I muttered. He stepped close to me and nuzzled my neck.

"I _know _it," he said, biting gently on my neck. I laughed and hit his arm lightly.

"Quit fooling around, the other will wake up," I whispered, hoping nobody had heard my laugh. Then a thought struck me. "Do I _have_ to be a virgin? I mean, are only matured virgins…appealing?

"Planning on losing yours?" he asked, then dodged my hand. "No, it's not necessary, otherwise nobody would have a mate, ever," he laughed. Well, that explains Ino—I knew she wasn't a virgin, so I'd been surprised that she'd been claimed. Speaking of, I've got a bone to pick with her, running off, mission or not, is just not right when your girlfriend is in dire need of your assistance.

"Though I can't say," he said, his voice deepening to that growl I love so much, "that it doesn't turn me on." He gave me a soft kiss that had me sighing in pleasure, then released me.

"You are _such_ a guy," I groaned, then hopped down from the branch. "Good night, Kiba," I called back softly.

"Good night, Sakura."

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

So Kiba has made his move! Does Kakashi know? What does he have to say? What will the Shokubutsukage order the Grass-nins to do? Will the team return to Konoha soon? Find out in the next chapter!

End notes: Plants listed really have been regarded in the past as aphrodisiacs. Used this page as a reference: http/ www (dot) goddessherself (dot) com (/) plant (dot) htm

AN: As always, please leave a review on your way out! Remember, the complete lemon is up at AFF.


	11. Reunion

AN: Apologies to anyone who was dying for the next chapter, but I've been unbelievably sick for the last week and a half.

So, I don't usually do individual replies in the story, but I had to reply to this: Yes, Fallen Plum, I WILL marry you! But only on the understanding that any babies will promptly be eaten, and I don't do the dishes. Ever. And I want to be surrounded by beautiful men who are workers in our large mansion-y castle and are shirtless all the time. O.o

And…AND….I've topped 75 reviews on FF and 50 on AFF! AWESOME::does a dance and looks around hopefully: Do I hear 100? Because that would be awesome. But thank you all so much for your reviews, I've gotten some wonderful feedback and it makes me all blush-y and overwhelmed with unnaturally warm and fuzzy feelings for all of you. :glomps the readers:

On with the chapter.

For those who still need to tell my Grass-nins apart:

Keseranpaseran: one of the Grass-nin twins; long (waist-length) dark green, almost black

hair, pale blue eyes, tan skin; fought against Sakura using vines

Tenseranpaseran: one of the Grass-nin twins; shoulder-length hair with layers in the

front; same coloring as Keseranpaseran; fought against Hinata and had his chakra pathways blocked

Manjushage: leader of the Grass-nin team; yellow eyes, pale green skin, hip-length deep

purple hair; was manhandled by Kakashi; can communicate with trees

**Oh, and one VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE: Some of you may or may not know, but story uploads/edits on AFF are suspended until March. Therefore, I WILL be posting this story on my LJ, so if you want your smut between now and March, look for my obnoxiously bolded author's notes/warnings and go to my LJ: www(dot)coiled-iris(dot)livejournal(dot)com or click on my homepage link.**

That being said, there is no smut (and therefore no cuts) in this chapter.

_:Inner Sakura:_

_block of italics is a flashback_

**Chapter Eleven**

I quickly returned to camp from my rewarding little rendezvous and was only mildly surprised to see Kakashi leaning against one of the trees that formed my tree-bed.

"Take care of personal business on your own time, Sakura," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, knowing I had taken it too far. But I was finding it hard to muster up the proper amount of guilt—I was so relieved that I had resolved some of my waffling feelings that I could literally feel the absence of that burden on my shoulders. I felt about ten pounds lighter, almost like I was floating. I was becoming reckless from this carefree feeling.

Kakashi held my eyes with his for several long seconds, then gave a curt nod and went back to his bed. But my suspicions were confirmed—Kakashi wasn't intending to sleep tonight. This meant I'd have to sneakily bolster his chakra reserves with some of mine tomorrow, because he wouldn't be regaining chakra at the normal regeneration rate. But that was for another day. Relaxed, satisfied, and still feeling warm shivers run up and down my arms, I got in bed, turned on my side, and slept.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

I awoke to the usual bustling activity—Hinata had started cooking breakfast at the end of her shift, and my stomach decided that it was a perfect time to get out of bed. Rolling to my feet and stretching, I looked around the camp and saw everyone partaking in similar actions—except Kakashi, of course, who was sitting in his bed, leaning against the trunk of a tree, reading. I walked over to him and slapped him on the back, using it as an opportunity to shoot some chakra into him.

"Beautiful morning, eh, captain?" I gave him a broad wink and sauntered over to the nearby stream to freshen up. Wow, I was in such a good mood—I can't remember the last time I woke up feeling so perky. Reaching the stream, I spotted Kiba rinsing his face before I crouched next to him.

"Good morning," I chirped. Kiba looked me over and let a slow smile steal across his face.

"Someone's in a bubbly mood this morning," he said, leaning in and brushing his lips across mine. I shoved him backwards so that he landed on his butt.

"Now, now," I said, shaking a finger at him. "You know we're on a mission. We're _supposed _to behave and stay alert."

"And after we get back?" he asked, completely unruffled by my treatment.

"Eh…well," I blushed, trying to ignore the rather explicit images running through my head, "um…we'll see?"

He brushed a few strands of hair back from my face. "Oh, we'll see," he said with a wolfish grin before standing and smoothly walking back towards camp. I watched him until he disappeared.

_:I hate to see you leave, but holy crap do I love to watch you go.: _Inner Sakura leered.

After running through my morning routine, I returned and received an update on our situation. The Grass team would be accompanying us to Konoha as per the orders of the Shokubutsukage—they even had a new mission scroll. After we finished interrogating Rafu (because obviously our speculations weren't based in fact, no matter how closet to the truth we may be), they would "escort" him to Grass, where he would pay for his crimes against them. We outlined our agenda for the days to come, which was to oversee the recovery of the villagers and keep Rafu unconscious. That being done, Hinata and I left to resume our medical duties in the town.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

Several days later, most of the townspeople were up and about—perhaps a little slower than usual, but they would recover in no time if they took care of themselves. Kakashi presented the scroll to the Elder Priest of the temple, thus completing our mission objective (to return the stolen scroll) and, waving off their gratitude and pleas for us to stay so that they might properly express their thanks with a feast, we turned and left with the Grass-nins, Rafu following behind us, still unconscious, being dragged along the ground by a vine.

Once we were out of sight of the village, we quickened our pace. I was eager to be home—I desperately needed a long, hot bath. And I missed Naruto (and Ino, of course)—I never really like being on missions without him. Of course, there's the fact that we work well together, since we've been on a team for so long. We subconsciously adjust our movements based on the other's body language. But there's also the fact that he's always a source of light and happiness—if you're feeling down, just sitting next to him makes you feel better. It's almost impossible to be worried around Naruto under normal social circumstances. I hadn't gotten to tell him goodbye, and it's almost a superstition of mine to always say goodbye before leaving on a mission. That way, if Naruto or I don't come back, at least we were able to say it. Maybe I was slightly concerned about him too—I mean, what if he got so injured that Kyuubi's chakra and healing abilities weren't enough. Naruto has a very delicate chakra balance, and they might not have assigned a medic-nin who was experienced enough, or who knew about it, to his team. What if he got poisoned? Not everyone was Tsunade's apprentice, and not everyone had the control to extract poison like I did.

My growing worry made my strides lengthen and the strength of my jumps increase as I leapt from tree to tree, and I had to force myself to keep pace with the group. We were about an hour away at our current pace, but I was restless, eager to be home. I felt something niggling at the edge of my senses, and when I recognized the chakra signature speeding towards me. We paused, the Grass-nins dropping into defensive poses. I turned to reassure them but I was tackled from behind before I could say anything. I turned in the embrace that kept me steady, returning it enthusiastically.

"Sakuraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I went on a mission and I came back and you weren't waiting for me and I didn't know what was going on because Ino wasn't there either and I thought you two had been kidnapped so I went to go yell at the ugly old lady for not telling me but then she told me you were on a mission and YOU DIDN'T EVEN LEAVE A NOTE!"

All of that was wailed at top volume in my ear, which was rather amusing since his voice had dropped more than an octave from its twelve-year-old counterpart (yet he still managed to sound as if he hadn't aged). He then buried his face in my hair. Every time I see him now, it's a shock at how much taller he is than me—he's about Kakashi's height, but since they both have crazy hair that sticks up in all sorts of directions, it's a bit difficult to say whom is the taller of the two.

"I'm sorry, I forgot. It was sort of a sudden thing," I whispered into his chest, knowing he'd hear me.

"You scared me," he rumbled in my ear, still crushing me to his chest.

"I'm going to scare you even more when I pass out from lack of oxygen," I muttered. Naruto reluctantly let me go, and then I lightly smacked him on the arm for scaring our guests. He sheepishly scratched his head, and I made introductions, even though I knew he would never remember their names. We continued on our way towards Konoha, with Naruto keeping up a running stream of chatter about his latest mission, turning what I'm sure had been a serious and dangerous one into a humorous tale of clumsiness from their quarry. The entire time, he never let go of my hand, and I knew that I really _had_ frightened him. I couldn't imagine what his reaction must have been when I wasn't waiting outside the gate for him, and then when my apartment was deserted and there was no note on his kitchen table. This didn't happen very often, but when he was terrified to a huge degree (usually because of worrying about me), he always sought physical touch to comfort himself.

I used to turn on him physically when he tried to touch me. I'm ashamed to remember it. In spite of your best intentions, there's no denying Naruto—he worms into the cracks of your heart and his presence grows there until you suddenly realize you can't imagine the world without him in it. I was older now, wiser, mature—I knew that holding hands with someone didn't make them your soulmate (something I had ignorantly feared in my younger years). And to tell the truth, it was nice to be close to someone without the pressure of a relationship—well, a dating relationship. I have to say though, I was carefully _not_ looking at Kiba during the last hour we walked back to Konoha.

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

Our reports had been made to Tsunade, the Grass-nins had been given accommodations, and Naruto and I were walking towards Ichiraku. I hadn't told him yet, but it was my treat—I still felt guilty that I had made him worry. We walked in silence, and I mulled over my last moments with Kiba. He had been quiet the entire trip back after Naruto joined us, and I had grabbed his arm on the stairs and pulled him into an alcove as we left Tsunade's office after debriefing.

"Are you jealous of my friendship with Naruto?" I demanded.

Kiba turned cool eyes on me—it was eerie, seeing him so collected, so icily angry. I liked him better when he was loud and exuberant. "You do realize that Naruto is also competing for you?"

"Well…I thought that maybe it was just him overreacting—you know, sort of like Overprotective Big Brother Syndrome." Actually, that was a big fat lie, but it sounded plausible—like how Kiba gets when other men indicate a possible interest in Hinata. Naruto has gone off on more than one man for eyeing me the wrong way, and before my "maturity" became an issue, I always viewed it as a sort of brotherly task, since I didn't have any brother of my own to do it for me.

Kiba gave me a disbelieving look, and I held up my hands.

"You have to forgive a girl for hoping. Three guys are a little intimidating to juggle all at once." Particularly when you don't have any say in the matter. Kiba eased back.

"Is that's all you see him as then? A brother?" Eh…well, before Naruto planted one on me, I might have said yes. But I've always heard that you don't find your brother to be obscenely hot. What can I say? Naruto's a rarity—there aren't many blonds in Konoha, and Ino and I have always made it our habit to appreciate the scenery.

"I see," Kiba said after I paused. Great, male drama. Then he surprised me by smiling. "I guess I'll just have to try harder then." With that he departed, tossing a merry wave over his shoulder. I didn't understand him at all, but I'm fairly certain that my angry mutterings of: "stupid…competitive…melodramatic…" were spot on.

I shrieked when Naruto's face suddenly appeared before me, derailing and destroying my train of thought.

"What's got you so preoccupied?" he asked. "I called your name like ten times!"

"Nothing," I muttered, turning my face away.

"It doesn't smell like nothing," Naruto said, uncharacteristically serious.

My eyes widened. Right, minor detail I seemed to have forgotten there. But, now that I think about it, does Naruto even understand what all of this means?

"Are you going out with _Kiba_?" Naruto asked, horrified, his face wrinkling into an expression of combined disgust and disbelief.

"What! No, well, not really, I mean…" I fumbled, flapping my hands uselessly. Great, another situation I was going to have to tackle head-on. Naruto was now walking with his arms crossed, a dark look upon his features. Again with the male drama.

"Hey…Naruto…" Wow, do I hate talking about this stuff. "Do you remember when you went a little…erm…berserk when we were training in the forest with Kiba and Neji?"

The dark look receded as he tried to think about what I was talking about. "Um…no…"

_:Oh come on, blondie, I know you're smarter than that:_

"Oh, wait, you mean when Kiba—the bastard—kissed you and then he and I fought about you for the next day?" I swear that at least thirty percent of the time he's pretending to be an idiot, and that it's some sort of misguided notion of comic relief, but gee, did he completely miss the point or what?

"Right, well, do you remember how you could smell Kiba on me?"

The black look was back on his face. "I can smell him now."

Now, now, Kyuubi, play nice. "Do you smell anything else?" Apparently that was an open invitation, because Naruto pulled me into his arms and leaned down to brush his nose against my neck. His breath tickled my neck as he inhaled deeply.

"Dirt, plants, sweat, Kiba, Hinata, Kakashi, a little of those weird guys, but mostly you." Maybe he wasn't faking the stupidity. I shivered as his lips brushed my neck while he was speaking, but it was fairly obvious that his intent wasn't sexual.

"Well, you smell like the new you. You used to smell different, but it's not like you switched shampoo, it's something else. I don't really know how to explain it." He pulled his head back to look at me, his forehead wrinkled. "Your scent changed, and Kyuubi said that it means that you are ours."

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

What will Sakura have to say to that? Where is Shino? Just how far is Ichiraku from Tsunade's office, anyway?

AN: As always, much love to Stem for unbelievable beta skills, and please leave a review on your way out.


	12. A Near Miss

AN:gasp: Is't possible? Doth mine eyes deceive me? Is our beloved (and very MIA and all kinds of AWOL) Iris BACK? Hells yeah she is, and she is here with a chapter for YOU, her wonderful, awesome, fantastic, supportive, fabulous, squee-tastic readers! Yeah, I totally threw a HUMONGOUS party when I saw that I topped 100 reviews. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

In other news, I seem to have lost my beta because I've been MIA for so long (and I won't bore you with the incredibly long sequence of events that kept me away from writing this chapter). So if anyone is interesting in taking up the now vacant beta position, private message me, email me, or leave a review, because I never had a beta before this and it is the most amazing thing ever, so now I am a sad Iris who would like a beta again.

I would also like to thank everyone—you know who you are, I'm not going to name names—who took the time to send me a message, email, or review to get off my butt and update. Thank you. I really do appreciate the motivation, and that you took the time to do it. It means a lot. Feel free to do it any time I take longer than 2 weeks to update.

AND! I know there is a growing list of reviews that I haven't replied to yet—unfortunately I've been swamped with writing my thirty-page undergraduate thesis, then finals, and then packing up my stuff, moving back home, then unpacking, then catching up on the girl's work who I took over for at my job, but now that this chapter has been posted, I will get to those ASAP. Okay, I lied, that was what kept me away from writing this chapter—that and an overdose of writer's block and chemistry research. Fun times. Except not.

And so ends my AN, which is probably longer than this chapter.

As always,

_A block of italics is a flashback_

_:If the italics are surrounded by colons and get their own paragraph, it's from Inner Sakura:_

**And, last by not least, there be lemons ahead. Do not read this chapter unless you are 18 (or 17, if that's the age in your country) or over. You have been warned. That being said, it's nothing too explicit, but it's definitely walking the line between R and NC17. If anyone feels that it's too explicit, please let me know and I will edit it.**

**Chapter 12**

"_Your scent changed, and Kyuubi said that it means that you are ours."_

I just stared at him. My first instinct was to punch him to the end of next week, but I was too surprised to get my muscles to move. It's not the first time I've heard something similar, or had it implied—well, since I matured, at any rate. But it's not something I'd expect to hear from Naruto. Possession…it sounds so dark…and Naruto is usually full of light and smiles. On the other hand, I _did_ say that I'd suspected that part of it was a mask.

I looked at Naruto. He was standing, looking at me with a peculiar look on his face. I could see that his muscles were tense—he was poised to dodge a blow. Hm…now that's interesting. Normally he doesn't try to dodge. Of course, I don't usually have such a delayed reaction. But he's fast enough that he could dodge if he wanted to. The look on his face…I would almost say that it was assessing…but that sounds too cold and clinical for what I saw. I didn't know what to say, and the time to punch him for his impudence had passed, so I fell back on the next best option.

"Naruto," I tried to keep my tone as innocent as possible and widened my eyes to complete the look. "I'm not that hungry just yet. Do you want to do a little sparring before we eat?"

_:Please say yes, please say yes. :_

He looked taken aback, and then his smiling mask dropped into place—it's probably what Kakashi's own smiling facade looked like without the cloth covering the lower half of his head.

"Sure!" He said happily.

_Perfect_, I thought to myself as my lips curved into a sly smile.

_:Your ass is mine! Possession goes both ways blondie. : _Inner Sakura laughed evilly.

The clearing I wanted to "spar" at was only a hop, skip, and jump away—literally. I let my pack fall to the ground and stood facing Naruto. I reached behind my back for a kunai and twirled it around my index finger.

"Are you ready?" I asked. It had been a while since I last sparred with Naruto—although, admittedly, I was intending for this to be a punishment session rather than a sparring session. I felt my blood begin to rush through my veins, and the adrenaline begin to pump through my system. But I remained standing upright, with my weight on both legs, and one arm to my side, deceptively nonchalant.

Naruto crouched down. A position that could be used for offense or defense—but one _he_ usually used for offense. I was proved right when he lunged forward towards me. I spun to the side, easily avoiding him.

_:Yawn:_

I was tempted to agree. Surely he thought better of me than that. Then a yellow flash caught my eye and I saw Naruto crouched where he originally had been. I whipped my head to the other side, my ponytail lashing my face, to see another Naruto mirroring the position. What—when had he—I didn't even feel him raise the chakra to form a clone! This also ruined my using any simple one-handed jutsus behind my back. I quickly flung my kunai at the Naruto then threw shuriken at the other. They both dematerialized into puffs of smoke.

_:WHAT the HELL:_

I stared in surprise. It couldn't have been a clone the entire time. But when—oh. When he followed me into the clearing and I turned my back on him for a minute. So the real Naruto was around here…somewhere.

_:CHEATER! I'll kick his ass:_

Focusing chakra, I called up the earth to surround me in a dome—Naruto would have to break through it if he wanted to get to me. Then I smiled, and with another jutsu, sank into the ground. In relatively little time I heard the crack of my dome being broken through, and the thud of someone landing above me.

"Huh?" Naruto's muffled voice reached me through the ground. "She's not here!" He called. I knew it, another clone.

"What do you mean she's not there?" I heard. The vibrations of his voice came from my right, and I turned and slowly, carefully moved towards the vibrations. I felt a step directly over my head, and with all the speed and strength I had, I punched my fist through the dirt and grabbed his ankle, pulling him down as I jumped up.

I heard the dispelling of the clone, but I was focused on the Naruto I had in my grasp. Taking advantage of his surprise, I twined my leg around one of his and pulled his arms back, lacing my fingers behind his neck. Naruto fell face-first onto the ground, with me on top of him.

"Admit it, you've been defeated," I said, feeling much better now that I'd come out on top. Naruto tried to fight my hold, but I was using chakra to strengthen my muscles. There was no way he was getting out of this without admitting that I'd kicked his butt.

_:Hell yeah! Grind his face into the mud. :_

"Oh, I don't think so," he said, turning his face to the side and looking at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Excuse me? You're not going anywhere for a while, so unless you feel like wasting our entire afternoon just sitting on our—_what the hell!_"

It was slight, but I felt it. Something was crawling up my leg at a slow, steady pace. I was lying on the ground, and I'd just been under it. My body went rigid. It could only be one thing.

_:BUGS! OH MY GOD! GET IT OFF! LET HIM GO SO YOU CAN ZAP IT:_

I could take it; I was a hardened kunoichi.I had witnessed and taken part in countless gruesome deaths. It was crawling up my thigh. With a shriek I let Naruto's arms and leg go, and tried to jump up, but something around my leg held me down and I crashed back onto the ground. I looked down and saw something thick and red entwined around my ankle, disappearing into my uniform pants. It came from…well, it came from Naruto's ass.

_:Speaking of which, this is a great view of it. Was it always that firm looking? Give it a poke, let's find out…damn, he moved. :  
_

He rolled over, giving me a cocky smirk. As if the tail weren't a big enough clue, I noticed that his whisker markings were slightly more prominent, and the tip of a fang peeked over his lower lip. His eyes were still that amazing shade of electric blue, but they looked more feral. I allowed my gaze to trail to his hands, and noticed claws.

"Kyuubi?" I breathed.

"Look what I've got tangled in my tail," he rumbled, leaning forward and crawling towards me. I gulped and tried to scoot backward on my ass, but his tail tugged me forward. For every time he placed a hand near me, his tail would tug me forward. In a very short time we were nose to nose.

_:Oh shit. :_

Yeah, my sentiments exactly. I'd only ever dealt with this aspect of Naruto in battle, and once the battle was over, it wasn't an issue. I had no idea if Kyuubi saw me as a light snack or as a potential mate, and I hadn't really intended to find out.

"Um, you know," I stammered as he smiled toothily at me, "I really don't think that this situation warrants a tail. Or claws." He moved his head to nose at my neck. "Or fangs," I squeaked. "You definitely don't need those."

Kyuubi pulled back from my neck and I couldn't help relaxing slightly in relief.

"You don't need to fear us, Sakura, we would never harm you," he said, looking very seriously into my eyes.

"Us!" My voice reached new heights of shrillness. "Us who?"

"Kyuubi and me, silly," Kyuubi-who-was-apparently-also-Naruto purred, bumping my nose with his.

"But…you…it…he…what?"

"We're merging…somewhat…and this form represents that. We think that eventually this will become our primary form and we'll have to use a Henge like Tsunade to maintain the fully human form."

"Merging," I said in awe. How horrible. I wonder if he felt like he was losing his identity, or like he was going insane. And I had had no idea.

"Stop worrying, Sakura," Naruto-Kyuubi laughed. "I know what you're thinking. I know who I am—our thoughts are very distinct. The merger of personalities is on a more basic level. My senses are stronger, better, more accurate than a human's. I act more on instinct than I used to, and less on impulse. But I'm still me."

"So you talk to it…him…often?"

_:Oh my God, it's the twilight zone! And dual personalities! Back away from him—er, them very, very slowly. :  
_

"Mentally, yeah. More now than I used to, but that could just be because he's bored. Or he _was_ bored. You've caught his interest."

Gee, I feel so flattered—not.

_:Yeah, caught his interest as to whether he wants to eat us raw or cooked. :_

"Wow, Naruto, that's something else," I said, edging backwards. "You know what, I just remembered I had an extremely urgent meeting with, um, Kakashi, so I'll see you in a little—UNH."

That's the sound I make when the air suddenly exits my body; Naruto (or Kyuubi-who-is-pretending-to-be-Naruto, or Kyuubi-who-is-merged-with-Naruto—you know, this could be getting really confusing, maybe I should invent some acronyms) pulled me back towards him with his tail of chakra. Right, the tail. It definitely can't be Naruto then, because he definitely doesn't have a tail. Although, since Kyuubi has always been a part of him, it could be argued that Naruto _has_ always had a tail. Wow, the semantics and logistics of this argument could go on forever. But Naruto was saying something and I snapped to attention.

"Jiraiya is already aware; I'm sure Kakashi and Tsunade have been told."

"Oh." Well, I guess that takes care of that. And now I don't have a leg to stand on—well, not that I'm standing, because I'm laying down. I've noticed that when I'm nervous I have a tendency to ramble. And I guess you could say I'm nervous now because I'm definitely rambling.

"Calm down, Sakura, it's just me." Naruto crouched over me. I looked at his face, and saw the worried blue eyes of the boy I'd known for over half my life, not the crazed red of Kyuubi.

"Naruto," I murmured, raising a hand and gliding my fingers along one of his whisker markings, which were still standing out prominently. He turned his head and nuzzled my hand. I sighed as my fear and nervousness drained away. Truthfully, now that my panic was receding, I remembered hearing Tsunade making some noise about Naruto's seal—but whenever she noticed that I was listening, she'd stop talking. It's only logical—even the strongest seal will weaken over time—it's just a matter of when. I imagine if Naruto had a weaker personality then Kyuubi would be possessing him and slowly killing his soul. He must have been so afraid when he realized what was happening—and then to have me turn away from him when he revealed his secret—

I sat up and grabbed Naruto in a bone-crushing embrace. He stiffened, and it made me feel worse.

"I'm sorry," I breathed soggily into his neck, the compassion I felt making me tear up. "I know—I know you won't—wouldn't—hurt me. I trust you…with my life."

Naruto's arms slowly came up and slid around me loosely. I think he was afraid of breaking me. Or maybe he didn't think it was real—admittedly, I don't give out hugs frequently. We get taught in the Academy that you can end up with a knife in the back that way.

"You can squeeze harder, Naruto—I don't break easily." I pulled my head back to look at him. His eyes were hidden by his bangs. "And even if I did break," I smiled, "I could heal it in a sn—"

Suddenly I was looking at Naruto's cheekbone from a very, very close range. Wow, I didn't know he had such long eyelashes. I was almost jealous. Something soft brushed my lips, and I idly wondered if Naruto used lip balm or if Kyuubi's healing powers took care of that.

Naruto moved in for another gentle brush of the lips—but I was still too stunned. I don't know why—Naruto-as-Kyuubi had kissed me the day I found out about maturity, but Naruto…well, he seems so boyish most of the time. It was easy to just push the sexuality on Kyuubi, because, well, it's _Naruto_. I really don't see Naruto in a sexual light unless he's wearing this one pair of pants…or if he's shirtless…or there's this one look he gets on his face…or if he's moving his hands down my back, cupping my ass, and lifting me so that I'm straddling his lap, like he was doing right then. Okay, so it's possible that I might, on occasion, see Naruto in a sexual light.

_:Yeah, like all the time. :_

I hummed into his lips with approval. I loved Naruto's hands—this was something I had just realized. They were big and strong and when they were on my ass I felt small and feminine—no mean feat for a woman who uses chakra to increase her strength and can break a man in two in less than a second—if the man isn't a high-classed ninja. Naruto's lips parted and his tongue teased my upper lip before I parted mine and let him kiss me. He was tender and sweet, and I could feel myself turning to mush.

_:Ugh…sap…please just get on with the sex already. :_

One of his hands slid up my back and cupped the back of my head, and the other one squeezed my ass, which set off a chain of events. Startled by the flash of need and heat that took over my mind, I bucked my hips, grinding into him, and nipped his bottom lip, which made him tighten his hand in my hair. His mouth became more demanding, his tongue curled around mine in a show of dominance. I squeezed his hips with my thighs, and the next thing I knew, I was laying on the grass, with Naruto's mouth still exploring mine. A strange electric sensation moved up my left leg and I tore my mouth from his to look down. Naruto's chakra tail was spiraling up my leg. As it neared the juncture of my thighs, it tightened, and then pulled my pants leg away. I squeaked in indignation but Naruto chose that moment to bite down on my neck, causing eyes to roll back in my head. The movement was repeated on the other leg so that my jounin pants were reduced to shorts—although that might be generous. Hotpants would probably be a better term. I felt the tail again, trailing lightly up my leg. It reached my pelvis and I wondered if my shorts and underwear was going to be ripped away or if it was going to—

"Oh God!" Tail good. Tail very good. Tail friend. Did I have a problem with the tail before? I felt Naruto smile against my neck, and I dug my nails into his back. Oh, hello, when did he lose his shirt? I smoothed my hands along his back, feeling the dips that defined his muscles. I love muscles. I was a happy Sakura, and the thought came to me that I would be even happier if I could see Naruto's pectoral and abdominal muscles.

It took a little concentration, but I managed to flip him over so that I was on top. You know, I think I could get to like it here. I sat up and looked down at Naruto. I could see his tail wrapped around my waist, pulsing red, and I dragged my short nails down Naruto's chest and stomach. His muscles tightened and I smirked. Looking at his body, I really couldn't say that Naruto was a boy. No, Naruto had definitely grown up to be quite a man. I licked my lips, and leaned down to pay oral homage to his glorious golden body.

As I licked my way to one of Naruto's flat nipples, I wondered where my voice of reason, better known as my conscience, had run off to. Being aggressive sexually wasn't like me. Was I under a jutsu? All I could feel was the chakra pouring off the tail, which had resumed movement. I nibbled on Naruto's nipple, then soothed it with my tongue. In less than a second, my shirt and bandeau were in shreds courtesy of the tail, and Naruto's hands were around my waist, holding me up, and his mouth was copying my actions. I clenched my hands in the grass, and tried to move my hips downward for some desperately needed contact, but his hold remained firm. I felt Naruto's tail slip under my shorts and underwear, and I shrieked as the tingling feeling it gave off surrounded my clitoris. But it wasn't enough—the tail wasn't something that was actual tangible. Like swimming in a river—you can feel the current, but you can't hold onto the current. The vibrating sensations from the tail were keeping me on the edge of orgasm, and it was driving me insane. Naruto, however, was content to play with my breasts.

"Please, anything," I gasped. For whatever reason, it caught Naruto's attention.

"_Anything_," he growled, his eyes flashing red. But I was too far gone to care.

"Anything," I moaned. He pulled me down and kissed me.

"Give yourself to me," he said, his eyes red. I almost screamed, "Take me," but he stilled me with a kiss.

"Let me mark you," he hissed.

I was about to wholeheartedly agree with him when I saw his eyes turn blue, and the look on his face turn from one of deviousness to one of horror.

I was plucked out of his grasp in the next second. Naruto's tail vanished and he stood up, looking away from me.

"Take her somewhere safe," he said dully.

"Naruto, wait," I said, struggling with whoever was holding me while trying to keep my breasts covered.

"Keep her away from me!" he snarled before using a displacement jutsu.

I was shaking from sexual tension, and my mind was clouded with confusion and hurt. A jacket came over my shoulders and the interfering man crouched down to zip it up. I looked down and saw my own image reflected in dark sunglasses. My hair was messy, and I looked lost.

"Shino…I don't understand."

"I spoke with Kiba. There's something more that you need to know."

_**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

What's going on with Naruto? Why was Sakura so horny? Is Shino trying to take over Kakashi's position as official cockblocker?

Find out in Chapter 13!

**Two last things before I go**: I know I said I was going to post this story at my LJ…well, I'm not, because in my understanding the Naruto archive from AFF is nearly complete, so this will be updated and fixed up there. I'm currently using my LJ for Harry Potter one-shots, and, of course personal information, and as I've only had a couple of people going, "Hi, I'm here because I read your story on FF dot net" I'm going to assume that people just watch my profile and wait for author updates. As always, if this changes, you can look for it in my author notes and I'll bold it and make it obnoxious so you can't avoid reading it. :cackles: The other thing is that I'm not going to post Chapter 13 until I've written Chapter 14, so that I can get ahead on my story and, if I ever get a horrid case of writer's block again, I have something to post in the meantime. So…give me a couple of weeks…or something…see you next chapter!


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